EDUCATION - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

12 th Aug
Delhi objects to many of the clauses in new Education Bill (11)
New Delhi, Aug. 11: The Delhi government has taken strong exceptions to a number of clauses in
the Union Free and Compulsory Education Bill 2004 and asked the Centre to have a "broader"
purview in its review draft so that Delhi's concerns could be attended to more effectively.
"Prima facie the Delhi government felt that there should be an alternative bill as the bill had
provided more than just the skeleton that it was to provide to the states. Additionally, education
being on the concurrent list, the Delhi government would like to have enabling rather than disabling
provisions," a top government official said. The bill creates four unequal tracks of
elementary education system in which schools run by the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the
Sainik Schools will remain outside its purview. This apart, the Central government and state
governments will have powers to keep outside the purview of the Bill any such schools or
category of schools as they may specify by a notification. In the opinion of the Delhi government,
"this provision legalises the hostile discrimination perpetuated against children of the lower strata
of society within the government schools itself." (Asian Age 12.8.04)
BJP Ministers return to education board meeting (11)
NEW DELHI, AUG. 11. After threatening to boycott the concluding day's proceedings of the first
meeting of the reconstituted Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE), the Education
Ministers of five Bharatiya Janata Party ruled States attended the deliberations today and had by
evening bagged chairmanship of one of the seven CABE committees constituted to address certain
issues raised over the past two days. However, the Education Ministers of Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand maintained that there would be no going
back on their decision to reject the changes made by the new order at the Human Resource
Development Ministry in the history textbooks published by the National Council of Educational
Research and Training. "The arbitrary changing of history and social science textbooks ordered
by the HRD Minister, Arjun Singh, in contravention to the Supreme Court's judgment will not
apply in our States," the Rajasthan Education Minister, Ghanshyam Tiwari, said at press
conference after the CABE meeting. His differences with the Ministry on the constitution of CABE
and the inclusion of the National Common Minimum Programme on its agenda notwithstanding,
Mr. Tiwari — who led the BJP charge against Mr. Singh at the inaugural session of the CABE
meeting on Tuesday — said he had decided to accept the HRD Minister's "request" that he chair
the Committee on Universalisation of Secondary Education. (The Hindu 12.8.04)
13 th Aug
Report blames Education department for fire (11)
CHENNAI, AUG. 12. Nearly a month after the fire tragedy in a Kumbakonam school that killed 94
children, a network of 11 non-governmental organisations campaigning for rights fixed the
responsibility on the Education department. In a fact-finding report, was released here today, the
network also made suggestions to ensure that such incidents do not recur. The Sri Krishna
School building, where the fire occurred, was granted approval though it was clear that it had
violated all norms of safety and stability and the Tamil Nadu Education Rules. Further, the danger
was that a number of schools all over the State functioned in such cramped places, exposing the
students to danger, S.S.Rajagopalan, educationist, said. However, he made it clear that the
intention was not to "merely find fault" with the authorities, but to ensure that such disasters did
not recur. Mr. Rajago-palan suggested a committee be constituted in every district to monitor
whether schools adhered to rules and if they did not, their recognition be cancelled immediately.
"There are no dearth of rules governing education and structural stability. The truth is that they
are constantly and consistently being violated. The Education department should grant
recognition only if a school has fulfilled all infrastructure criteria specified in the rules,"
Dr.Rajagopalan said. (The Hindu 13.8.04)
15 th Aug
Kalam: Education system needs revamp (11)
New Delhi, August 14: CALLING FOR massive reforms in India's education system, President