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Though you sound surprised that Infosys provided the "sole affirmative reply" to EducationWorld’s proposal to institute the young achievers awards, I am not at all surprised by the lukewarm response of Indian industry. The truth is that the over-hyped leaders of Indian industry are not at all aware of the connection between the country’s crumbling education system and the miserable productivity and bad manners of their companies. They seem to believe that it is easy to fool the public by making politically correct noises about the importance of education and throwing a few crumbs into education initiatives. And even for the little they do, they want big tax breaks.

Perhaps the new IT companies — Infosys and TCS (which sponsored your search for India’s best teachers) led by enlightened leaders such as N.R. Narayana Murthy and F.C. Kohli and S. Ramadorai are exceptions to this rule. But the great majority of India’s businessmen — whom you hyped up into great business heroes in your previous avatars as editor of Business India and Businessworld — are greedy, selfish people given to conspicuous consumption and self-promotion.

I hope your cover story on the Infosys-EducationWorld Young Achievers Awards will shake them out of their slumber and prompt them to do something worthwhile to raise the abysmal standards of Indian education.

K.M. George
Thiruvanathapuram

I read your special report feature ‘Runaway coaching schools boom: boon or bane?’ (EW August) with great interest. The arguments for and against coaching schools which move heaven and earth to get their students into India’s top education institutions such as the IIMs, IITs and medical schools are cogently and clearly presented.

Though as contended by Dr. Natarajan, coaching schools serve a useful purpose, there is no doubt in my mind that at best, they are a necessary evil. Because they are essentially money-making enterprises accessible only to the affluent classes, they effectively shut out the poor majority from the highly subsidised IIMs, IITs and best colleges of undergraduate education. Thus we have the curious anomaly of children of the relatively rich grabbing all the seats in the best institutions of higher education, not necessarily because they are meritorious, but because they can afford to enroll in coaching schools.

The obvious conclusion is to upgrade government schools so that rural students have a chance of entering the best institutions of higher education.

Patricia Mathur
Delhi

The August issue of EducationWorld was full of interesting reading as usual.

I particularly enjoyed the expert comment page which featured excerpts of your address to the National Governors Association in Des Moines, USA. The address was very statesman- like and rich in detail. I’m sure it will be remembered.

Dr. Glenn Christo
Bangalore

I have been a reader of EducationWorld since the past year. I was pleasantly surprised to read a review of the book Ooru Keri — An Autobiography. I was under the impression that you review only English language books and that too, those written by internationally renowned writers. But I am pleased to note that you have adopted a balanced approach to choosing books for review. Moreover the reviewer has summed up the storyline commendably.

However I feel it incumbent upon myself to point out an information lacuna. While the reviewer has taken due care to introduce the theme and build a context around the book, he has ignored the author. Just saying that Siddalingaiah is one of India’s most prominent Dalit writers doesn’t mean much. Currently Siddalingaiah is head of the Kannada department of Bangalore University and is perhaps one of the few scheduled caste writers to have achieved acclaim in the literary field. He has taught in several universities in Karnataka and was also nominated for a position in the Bangalore University syndicate by the vice-chancellor.

Jagadish C. Mundinmane
Haveri (Karnataka)

The cover story titled ‘Infosys-EducationWorld Young Achievers Awards 2005’ (EW August) was interesting. It is indeed commendable that many youngsters across the country are going the extra mile and achieving great feats. While some of them are inventing innovative gadgets and achieving sporting and academic excellence, others are making an effort to save the forests of our planet.

It was highly inspiring to read about various small town youths like Shriram who, moved by the plight of construction labourers invented the Universal Spirit Level. I agree with the author when she says "despite minimal infrastructure support, crowded classrooms and the heavy burden of make-or-break examination systems, Indian society steadily continues to produce thousands of young achievers…" While this scenario is true of government schools, most of the winners profiled are from upscale private schools and colleges. The winner in the senior category is in fact US-educated. Does this mean there are no achievers in government schools or did the message inviting nominations not get across to them?

Aditya Jain
Bhopal