The December cover story (‘Sliding reputation of India’s universities’) is depressing. The results of the QS and THE World University Rankings 2011, in which not a single Indian university is ranked among the top 200, confirm that India’s best universities can-not compete internationally and are far from world-class.
Delhi University, which sparked national outrage last year by condoning one of its affiliated colleges stipulating an admission cut-off of 100 percent, is best only by our own abysmal Indian standards. A deadly cocktail of political interference, lack of funds, stagnant tuition fees and faculty shortages has led to the steep decline of our universities.
To resuscitate India’s sick higher education system, some bold measures need to be taken. First and most important, bureaucratic and political control of academia should end and universities must be given full auto-nomy. Second, tuition fees must be raised. Third, the college affiliation system must be discontinued. It’s a time for hard decisions.
Suryanath Tripathi
Delhi
Words of appreciation
Thank you for the December issue of EducationWorld. I appreciate your continuous efforts to present well-researched and selective articles relevant to our times. The education sector in India needs a lot of improvement and development. The entire issue illustrated with carefully chosen photographs, give it an elegant look making it attractive to readers from all spheres of life. The content is useful not only to those in the field of education, but also to students and the common man.
I was especially pleased to read your special report — ‘India Against Corruption: Head boys/girls speak up’. Featuring students’ opinions on impo-rtant subjects should be continued, enabling them to express their views and ideas.
Congratulations to you and your team for your dedication and personal attention to every detail to ensure best quality of the magazine. God bless you.
Dr. Augustine F. Pinto
Chairman, Ryan International Group of Institutions, Mumbai
Cut red tape!
Re your editorial ‘FDI in multi-brand retail good for rural India’ (EW December), the Union government must instead devote its resources to creating a conducive business climate. This necessitates cutting down red tape and eliminating licensing processes that breed corruption.
The Central government must also allow unrestricted import of goods and services in short supply. By doing so, it will not only meet the demands of consumers and provide competition to Indian industry, it will also enhance the quality of Indian products and lead to reduction in prices.
Mahesh Kumar
Delhi
Rich feast
Congratulations on the successful completion of 12 years of Education-World. The 12th anniversary issue featuring the cover story ‘Private enterprises saving Indian education’ made for a rich feast of reading.
Thank you for your continuing and zealous mission towards the cause of education.
K.V. Simon
Mumbai
Impressive record
I am extremely happy to learn that EducationWorld, which has an impressive track record, has successfully completed 12 golden years in the sphere of education development in the country. The 12th anniversary issue is elegant, with high quality content.
With your visionary outlook, your contribution to Indian education and society is immeasurable. The features and comment pages in the magazine are timely and suit the requirements of India’s struggling education institutions. My hearty congratulations for this admirable achievement and best wishes for the future.
I invite you to visit TNAU (Tamil Nadu Agriculture University) and provide wide coverage of our novel educational initiatives in your esteemed magazine.
P. Murugesa Boopathi
Vice chancellor
TNAU, Coimbatore
Powerful arrow
I have your 12th anniversary issue (EW November) before me. The editorial content is a powerful arrow, and I earnestly hope it will strike the right target audiences and magnify your message thousand-fold.
I have always wondered about the inspiration behind EducationWorld and congratulate you for sustaining it, despite the several setbacks and turbulent times you have experienced. Keep up the good work!
Prasad Soundarajan
Geniuschoice Institute
Coimbatore
Survey suggestions
My son is currently a class VII student of the Woodstock School, Mussoorie. I am thankful to you for conducting the EducationWorld-C fore India’s Most Respected Schools Survey 2011 (EW September). It is indeed a great endeavour to improve, assess, motivate and develop the schools of our country, thereby helping them impart better education to the next generation and improving the future of our country and the world.
However, I have a few suggestions for improving the survey:
• Please elaborate on the ranking process and procedure.
• Kindly add a few anecdotes, events, and good practices overheard, seen or noticed during your visits to various schools. It can be a useful guide to all of us.
• If there is a way you could get some genuine feedback from parents, it would give you an added insight into the schools surveyed.
• Include quotes on education from philosophers, thinkers etc to broaden readers’ understanding.
• Children’s feedback could also be very useful.
Pooja Agarwal on e-mail