Private urban bias

Congratulations for your 9th anniversary issue (EW November). You deserve the congratulations for persevering with EducationWorld, and for chronicling the grave injustices of the Indian education system. I have been a regular reader of your publication and must say that over the past nine years, there has been consistent improvement in content and presentation.

I must also commend you on the choice of your anniversary cover story — ‘50 leaders re-defining Indian education’. These leaders must be given credit for helping bring reform and innovation into the much-neglected education sector. However in your selection of 50 leaders, I notice a bias in favour of private education entre-preneurs at the pre-school, secondary school and tertiary education levels. Though they must be lauded for their extraordinary initiatives towards providing quality school and tertiary education, their efforts are largely restricted to urban India.

I would have been happier to read profiles of the many education leaders from the non-government sector, who are toiling away unsung in the hinterland of India. Their work in upgrading the government school system in villages, in the face of unhelpful education bureaucrats and ignorant parents anxious to put their children to work or baby-sit, is no less significant and noteworthy than of their counterparts in urban India. These people never get written about in the mainstream media because they are unglamorous, but I would have expected EducationWorld to search them out and acknowledge and celebrate them.

Sumit Trivedi
Delhi

Dead government hand

Thanks for your superb 9th anniversary issue (EW November). The snapshot profiles of 50 leaders redefining Indian education were educative and well-written. I also enjoyed reading the special anniversary columns. In particular, Sauvik Chakraverti’s column making the case for a liberalised education system was interesting. There is substance in his argument for an education system free of government control and regulation. Indeed,  what is stifling the expansion of school and tertiary education is the dead hand of government.

Government educa-tion officials inept at running their own schools and colleges cannot be entrusted with the responsibility to set academic standards and regulate private schools. There is a curious unwilling-ness in the media to hold the Central and state governments accountable for the horrible conditions and decrepit infrastructure of government schools. Consequently, even the poorest of the poor are ready to go to any lengths, and to set aside substantial proportions of their meagre incomes to secure their children admission into private schools. It’s best for the country if the government gets out of education provision, or at least doesn’t meddle with the affairs of private education institutions.

However to counter the dangers of zero regulation, strong committees comprising parents and members from local communities should be constituted to monitor education, and independent curriculum experts should be appointed to maintain and assess academic standards. Together they will ensure there is accountability and quality in the system.

Arun Dabholkar
Mumbai

Matter of pride

I’m a regular reader of EducationWorld, which is doing yeomen service in the field of education by spreading the essential message of quality education.

I’m really proud of your magazine, and I wish you all success to reach greater heights.

D.M. Virupaksha Swamy
Trustee, Bhoomi Educational Trust
Tumkur

Refreshing read

Many thanks to you for organising the seminar on ‘Raising teaching-learning standards to global norms’ in Bangalore on November 8. The presentations were enlightening and it was a pleasure to be amongst a group of people who are really pushing for educational change.

Moreover your 9th anniversary issue is a joy to read. It is refreshing to read a publication with an opinion — and one that gives a great overview of the present position of education in India.

Congratulations to all and keep up the good work!

Ian Chambers
Regional Manager South Asia
Cambridge International Examinations Delhi

Top publication

After reading the October issue of EducationWorld, I have no hesitation in saying that this is India’s top publication on education.

The articles published in it are contributed by scholars of long standing and high repute. The accompanying photographs further enhance the importance of each article. The deficiency of good education writing has been fully compensated by your publication.

Dr. (Mrs) Bharati Gandhi
Founder-Director
City Montessori School
Lucknow

Damaging schools survey

I have no doubt that compiling a ranking of India’s most respected schools (EW September) was an arduous exercise. However, basing the survey entirely on public perception, and that too a microscopic cross-section in limited cities, has been most damaging for the following reasons.

Firstly, public perception not backed by facts leads to the currency of misconceptions, wrong notions and falsehoods. Therefore, it is essential to validate the outcome of a perception-based vote by visiting campuses or at least websites. I and my team of counsellors and trainers have visited a large number of these schools in the past few years, and are astonished to find that many rankings under the specific headings are incorrect. So much so, that it is not even possible to mention them here as it would entail a complete re-listing!

To support your view that public perception is important, you have stated, that’s how governments are elected in democratic countries — on the basis of public perception of the relative merits of the candidates standing for public office, rather than on the basis of facts which are difficult to ascertain. You have however, overlooked the essential features of such elections wherein the claims of candidates are subject to lengthy debates, broadcast live by the electronic media and repeated by the print medium, which in turn facilitates informed public opinion.

To counter the damage done by such surveys, many schools may be compelled to allocate a substantial budget for public relations. This will be a tragedy, as this money could be put to much better use in ensuring the all-round development of their students.

Dr. Amrita Dass
Director, Institute for Career Studies
Lucknow

Totally wrong perceptions

Congratulations for your EW Schools Survey 2008 (EW September) cover story. It is indeed an effort to be commended. As a parent, I feel that such reports about schools will lead to better understanding between parents and schools.

My son is studying in St. Joseph’s School, North Point, Darjeeling, of which I am an alumnus. It was heartening to see that the school has been ranked very highly in many fields, especially under the parameter ‘value for money’.

However, I was surprised to see that St. Paul’s School, Darjeeling is ranked first under the parameter of ‘sports education’. I think this is a totally wrong perception. Ranking St. Paul’s in first position in the sports category completely undermines your esteemed magazine’s judgement and calibre. Please find enclosed the results of all sporting events of 13 Anglo-Indian schools, attested by the Rector.

Also, under the parameter of integrity/ honesty, I was surprised to find St. Joseph’s featured sixth. Please find enclosed an article from the Times of India which reports that the Rector has tried to inculcate honesty in students as a life-long virtue, and this practice of honesty all-round and in weekly examinations still continues.

Shiromani Syangden
Darjeeling

Urban bias complaint

With reference to your cover story ‘India’s most respected schools’ (EW September), have you ever thought about schools situated outside major cities? I don’t think they ever come onto your radar screen. There are outstanding schools out there too. The Little Rock School, Brahmavar (Karnataka) was covered in the latest issue of Mentor, a magazine of recent origin, published from Bangalore. They sought us out.

I am sure there are many such schools located in smaller towns and villages, rendering yeomen service. It’s unfair to ignore their services.

In a country like India, where 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas, we cannot take cognizance of only our major cities and ignore our smaller towns and villages.

Mathew C. Ninan
Principal, Little Rock
Brahmavar (Karnataka)

Our survey covered schools in small towns including Panchgini, Gangtok, Kurseong, Nilambur and Hisar. However schools not known by at least 25 people in the respondents sample were not rated or ranked — Editor

Credibility check advice

I empathise with your complex difficulties in making a judicious assessment of educational institutions (EW September cover story). But surely you would agree that a sampling of public perceptions is not going to give you justifiable results. Of what use is it to have a ‘human development magazine’ and yet rely only on audience polls rather than hard facts, especially when there are clearly quantifiable indices for judgement of several of your parameters.

A thousand questions come to one’s mind: (i) Who all constitute this ‘public’ whose perceptions you sought out to determine? (ii) How can you justify their individual knowledge of all these institutions without facts? (iii) If there was no common basis for judging your laid down parameters, how could your “carefully chosen” parents and educationists respondents’ sample judge any two institutions in a similar manner and (iv) Why can’t you substantiate at least some of your quantifiable ratings with hard facts — say, where there is a common ground of CBSE, ICSE or an all-India competitive exam by a recognised body. A simple aspect like value-for-money could have been elaborated by mentioning the actual fees without hidden costs, something any fee-paying parent would know.

While your marketing strategy of drawing forth schools from their ivory towers is admirable, you may also like to carry out a credibility check of your own magazine, when you stick your neck out with uninformed and inexplicable ratings. For your information, journals and newspapers far and wide have highlighted the awe-inspiring performance of RIMC in the recent past, with respect to the numerous achievements notched up repeatedly.

My prescription for improving your credibility is to check out facts.

Col. H. Dharmarajan, SM
Commandant, Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun

Corrigendum

Re my profile in the ‘People’ section in your 9th anniversary issue (EW November). This report has some personal facts which are incorrect.

In paragraph two it has been stated that I am a special educator. This is incorrect; I am counselling psychologist.

Again in para six, it has been reported that I am currently a pre-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University, Chicago. This is incorrect. I was a visiting pre-doctoral fellow earlier. I request you to take note of these errors and publish a corrigendum.

Swathi Menon
Mumbai