EDUCATION - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

Alliance for Right to Education and Equity (NAFRE) staged a dharna in the Capital today. The
beginning of a 10-day long campaign for the common school system and constitutional right to
work across the country, the NAFRE described the campaign as an attempt to propagate the
issue as a human rights one. With participants from 15 States across the country, NAFRE
claimed that over 10,000 people from across the country had come to the dharna which is also
demanding the right to work. "Education should help people find employment. Specially in a
country like India, where it will be difficult to motivate people towards education unless it helps
them earn a living in the end. The Government needs to create job opportunities, and one
important way is by introducing land reforms to help the rural population," said Ambarish Rai, the
national organiser of NAFRE. While expressing its opposition to commercialisation and
privatisation of education, NAFRE members today noted that disparity in education continued to
be one of the major problems facing India, with the Government failing to allocate six per cent of
the GDP towards education despite promising it in the common minimum programme. (Hindu
30.11.04)
1 st Dec
Panel looks at exam reforms (11)
New Delhi, Nov. 30: The existing examination system, which forces students to mug up
facts, is one of the major causes of the "burden" on schoolchildren across India, feel many
members of the 30-member National Steering Committee, which was set up by NCERT to review
the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2000 and draw up a new one. The
members pointed out that the fact that the examination system fails so many each year is a
matter of serious concern. According to estimates, nearly 80 per cent of Class 10 and Class 12
students fail to pass every year. The National Steering Committee, chaired by scientist and
former UGC chairman Prof. Yash Pal, met for the first time on Tuesday. It was constituted on
November 16. The Yash Pal Committee report — "Learning Without Burden" of 1993, which
shows the way to reduce the load on schoolchildren, is the basis of the review being conducted in
accordance with the 1986 National Policy of Education. The NCERT hopes to present the final
review document to the Central Advisory Board of Education of the HRD ministry for approval
some time "in the summer of 2005". (Asian Age 1.12.04)
6 TH Dec.
Orissa hosts global meet on democratic education (11)
Bhubaneswar, Dec. 5: Austin, student of ninth standard studies computer programmes at his
home in New York city of America. He doesn't want to be put in conventional school curriculum
and discipline. So do Zeazinnin Seibel from New Mexico and Sidharth from Orissa. Over 100 students
along with nearly 500 educationists across 17 .countries of world are currently discussing
on different approaches to bring democracy in education system. The 12th International
Democratic Education Conference, which began here on last Friday, is documenting a wide
range of ideas put across by delegates from different countries. The IDEC is an initiative^ that
aims at evolving and practicing methods to enable a child learn in a holistic way. Education, over
the time, has been one sided — the teacher giving lectures and the pupil expected to understand
all that is said. Democracy in education is aimed at taking the pupil into planning process and
design of such methods, which would be relevant and contextual for child to comprehend. "It is
the need of hour to set students free from conventional education system. Students should be
given liberty to choose the subject they want to learn. (Asian Age 6.12.04)
12 th Dec
SCERT starts cleansing school books (11)
New Delhi, Dec. 17: The State Council for Education Research and Training has initiated the
process to bring in changes in its recently-introduced textbooks in the Delhi government-run
schools in the wake of recent controversies. The new textbooks will be introduced from the next
session. Speaking to The Asian Age, SCERT director Janaki Rajan said: "We are discussing all
aspects of the objections, which we have received. Contents of the textbooks will be changed
accordingly. The process is on." "In certain cases, it's not possible to make changes in the
textbooks on the grounds on which objections have been raised. We are looking into all aspects,"