Appeal to edupreneurs
CONGRATULATIONS TO EDUPRENEURS spearheading the promising initiatives featured in your cover story ‘Big bang initiatives revolutionising Indian education’ (EW October). From curriculum enrichment and experiential learning to robotics, music education, and sports and fitness programmes, their initiatives are slowly but surely adding value and substance to conventional school education. However, it seems these programmes are restricted to elite private schools affiliated with CBSE, CISCE and international exam boards. My appeal to these edupreneurs is to broad-base their activities to reach budget private and state government schools in urban as well as rural India.
It was also heartening to read about the recently launched Ashoka University in Delhi NCR. Liberal arts and humanities education has long been neglected in India and the establishment of Ashoka University modeled on top American liberal arts colleges is sure to revive interest in the study of humanities. I also noted in the story that several other universities are establishing liberal arts schools, a welcome development.
Anil Varma
Mumbai
Protect public sector
RE YOUR POSTSCRIPT item ‘Decline & fall of HMT’ (EW October), it’s sad how one of India’s best watch manufacturing companies, HMT, is facing closure as it has failed to compete in the globalised market.
Recently, Hindustan Motors stopped production of the Ambassador car; now HMT is on the verge of closing down. How unfortunate that foreign brands are taking over the Indian market! One hopes prime minister Narendra Modi will stop this trend which is threatening indigenous companies. It would be better to sell ailing public sector companies to Indian private corporates so the former don’t lose their identity.
Mahesh Kumar
Delhi
Disheartening omission
WE HAD GREAT FAITH IN EducationWorld but it’s really disheartening and demotivating for students, staff and parents to note that the survey has omitted to include City Montessori School & College, Kanpur Road, Lucknow — one of the biggest schools in India and one with exceptional achievements and extraordinary merits. It’s an irony that out of the 8,263 knowledgeable fees-paying parents, educationists, principals and teachers whom your team interviewed, none happens to be from our school.
We have self-assessed our school on the parameters of the EW India School Rankings 2014 and find that it has distinguished itself on all parameters. I request you to send your team to survey the campus so as to do justice to our students, teachers and parents.
Dr. Vineeta Kamran
Principal, City Montessori School, Kanpur Road, Lucknow
The flagship City Montessori School, Gomti Nagar, Lucknow is ranked in the EW 2014 survey — Editor
Unbelievable faux pas
I READ YOUR EW India School Rankings 2014 (EW September) with some amusement. The biggest faux pas among many others, was the ranking of Bishop Cotton School, Shimla as India’s #1 boys boarding school. I would not rate it even in the Top 5. This faux pas has made you lose credibility.
Some other rankings in other categories are also plainly unbelievable. You need to do something about the rankings methodology. I wonder if your team has visited these schools?
I say all this with great confidence having been an educationist for over 46 years.
R.P. Devgan
Principal, Yadavindra Public School, Mohali
The rankings methodology doesn’t require school visits. It’s based on the perceptions of an informed public (see p.46 of the cover story) — Editor
Credibility complaint
FROM A POSITION OF PRIDE at #40 nationally three years ago and then to 25th-29th and now to slip to 114, the EW India School Rankings 2014 should prompt your organisation to ponder over the C fore survey methodology. No offense intended, but it’s obvious the survey is done within the air-conditioned confines of the company, rather than conducting spot visits to ascertain the true condition of institutions. Introspection is necessary because your esteemed publication has reached a position among schools wherein they regard the rankings with great trust and faith.
Hansraj Public School is in good financial and academic health and is progressing well. Recently we obtained CBSE-i (CBSE-International) affiliation. We are the only school to achieve this honour in our city. We have further renovated our building, added a new wing, and improved our student strength. But alas! C fore would have known all this had any of them visited our premises. They were sitting at their desks and doling out ranks based on fickle considerations.
I request you to kindly look into this matter seriously. Your standing in the field of education is unblemished and I know there are no strings attached to the rankings, but your survey agency is not above board and seems to be working on narrow considerations.
Jaya Bhardwaj
Principal, Hansraj Public School
Panchkula
For day schools, city rank is of prime importance. Hansraj Public is ranked a respectable #2 in Panchkula and #2 in Haryana — Editor
Reorient EW rankings
I WANT TO COMPLIMENT EducationWorld for having initiated rankings of schools on 14 carefully chosen parameters which extend much beyond the traditional yardstick of academic excellence. The EducationWorld league tables have given ranked schools unique brand equity, and spurred healthy rivalry among them.
I have carefully gone through the EW India School Rankings 2014 and sincerely feel there is an asymmetry between the rankings accorded to schools and on-the-ground reality. For example, replacing The Doon School with Bishop Cotton, Shimla as India’s #1 boys boarding school is inexplicable and the speculative comment that “its stock is near rock bottom following a spate of corruption scandals and ignominious rout of the Congress party in the general election in May” is simply bizarre. It’s noteworthy that The Doon School is ranked higher than Bishop Cotton on nine of the 14 parameters. I wonder how anyone could accord higher marks to Bishop Cotton on parameters such as leadership, life skills education and community service.
Likewise, the score accorded on various parameters to Welham Boys’ School are at variance both with the general perception and reality. Surprisingly, its scores among the five best boys boarding schools, are the lowest in ten of 14 parameters. Nonetheless, its academic reputation is today as high as that of The Doon School. The most surprising is the score (69) awarded to it on the parameter of Internationalism cf. 83, 82 and 78 given to The Doon, Scindia School and Mayo College respectively.
It needs to be recorded that Welham Boys participated in seven Model United Nations sessions in 2014.
I don’t doubt your claim that 8,263 knowledgeable fees-paying parents and other stakeholders were interviewed across 25 cities by 203 field researchers. But because of paucity of time, despite the best intentions of field researchers, gathering dependable feedback from numerous respondents becomes dicey and makes the scores awarded questionable. Thus the field research needs to be reoriented and made more accurate and dependable.
Raj Kanwar
Dehradun
Grave misrepresentation
WE REGRET TO BRING to your notice that in the EW India School Rankings 2014, Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School (GNFCS) has been erroneously ranked as a co-ed boarding school on pages 177 and 178. The GNFC Society runs two separate boys and girls boarding schools in Mussoorie. The campuses of the schools are at a distance of 1.5 km from each other. In the form submitted to the Gurgaon office of the company which conducted the survey, we clearly mentioned that we run separate boys and girls residential schools. We are shocked by the misrepresentation.
By wrongly classifying us, you have put us in a difficult position. Please issue a rectification.
Jaspal Singh
Chairman, Guru Nanak Fifth Centenary School Society, Delhi
Insensitive system tragedy
I WANT TO BRING TO your attention the recent tragic death of Pinky Chauhan, a second year B.Sc student of the Government Girls College, Gurgaon. Pinky was given zero marks in physics and mathematics in the second semester exam results declared in September. Pinky together with other students had staged a protest rally to draw attention to the assessment error. For some strange reason, the principal and few faculty members of the college started harassing Pinky, who unable to bear the harassment, set herself ablaze on September 29 and succumbed to her injuries on October 12.
Mismanagement in the evaluation system is not news. Many students from lower middle class homes are forced by the university to use their online systems. Colleges are not properly equipped to handle online systems, outsourced to private agencies. After the protest, Pinky’s marks — and of several other students — were revised from 0 to 60. This revision came on October 3. For many students this was a battle won, but their leader Pinky was battling for her life in hospital.
Pinky’s case also focuses attention on callous and insensitive teachers and administrators who have scant respect for the rights and dignity of their wards. Protests of all types are seen as rebellion against authority. A young, promising life has been lost, needlessly. The examination system needs correction and reform, but more than that custodians of the education system need to be sensitised to the rights and needs of the student community.
Dr. Vasantha R. Patri
Chairperson, Indian Institute of Counseling, Delhi