EDUCATION - 2004 - Indian Social Institute

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Educational Research and Training, State Institutes of Education, Chairmen of School Boards and academics participated in the meeting and put forth their point of view. ; The meeting, organised by NCERT on the directives of the " Supreme Court, discussed is-- sues such as scheme of studies in relation to environmental education, weightage to be given to the subject, time to be devoted by the schools on this topic, method of evaluation, reformulation of existing teacher education. (Indian Express 14.3.04) 23 rd March Higher education needs higher allocation (11) CHENNAI, MARCH 22. The Union Planning Commission Member and noted educationist, K. Venkatasubrama-nian, is the proud winner of the Professor M.V.Pylee Award (Distinguished Academician of India 2003} instituted by Pylee, former Vice-Chancellor of Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). The award, comprising Rs.2 lakhs in cash and a citation, is the latest honour conferred on Dr. Venkatasubramanian who rose from a district education officer to founder-Vice-Chancellor of Pondicherry Central University. A couple of days before receiving the award this past week, Prof. KVS (as he is popularly known) voiced his concern over higher education and public health systems, which are part of his portfolio. In a chat with The Hindu, he said a new trade regime, explosion of technology and a media revolution were all imposing an unprecedented change on higher education, which was stagnating due to "paucity of funds". The Kothari Commission in 1965 wanted 6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product allocated for education. Today, the allocation was not even 2 per cent. And 85 per cent of the allocation was spent on staff salary and perks. Less than 15 per cent went for development. The total allocation must be 7 per cent if India was to turn a real knowledge-superpower, he said. The suggestions of Prof. KVS (who co-authored a task force report on making India a knowledge superpower) include: remove the deadwood, reduce the number of non-teaching posts, change the norms for funding universities, monitor rigorously academic and other performances of institutions and allot accordingly. (Hindu 23.3.04) 25 th March Only 1/4 th funds for education plan utilized (11) New Delhi, March 24: Centre's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, this financial year shows a big gap between plans and their implementation. Only a fourth of the total amount approved for the nationwide education project was actually spent by the states. Throughout the year, the human resource development ministry has showcased its education-for-all campaign, which aims to send every 6-14 year-old into school. It has reported a major drop in the number of out-of-school children. But going by the statistics just released by the ministry, it might have not done that well in improving the quality of education. The unutilised funds would have gone into constructing new schools, building additional classrooms and toilets, recruitment of teachers, free text books and grants for training teachers and maintaining schools. (Asian Age 25.3.04) 2 nd April Will fresh grant help primary education? (11) New Delhi: Whether the recently-sanctioned $ 1 billion grant from the World Bank, EU and DFID will help improve primary education in India is doubtful if one goes by the record of public expenditure on elementary-level schooling. Ever since HRD ministry started the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) — its flagship programme on elementary education in 2001, it has been complaining of lack of funds. But whatever the Centre has allocated to the states for its implementation has largely remained unutilised. In 2003-04, the states were only able to spend 67 % of the funds allocated under SSA. The Centre allocated Rs 2,732 crore. The HRD ministry has so far released Rs 2,362 crore to the states which in turn have spent only Rs 1,848 crore. The worst performers are Jharkhand, Himachal, Oris-sa, Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal. Delhi spent just 25%, Himachal 35% and Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Orissa between 42 and 47%. Even as the ministry promises to spend the $ 1 billion grant to provide elementary education to all the 80 lakh out-of-school children, the targets set under SSA for 2003-2004 have gone amiss. (Times of India 2.4.04)
8 th April 20% reservation likely in schools (11) New Delhi: The Delhi government is in the process of finalising details on the reservation of seats for students from economically weaker sections in public schools. According to sources, the government has decided on enforcing 20% reservation in all schools. Officials say schools will have to follow the order irrespective of the reservation percentage specified in their land lease documents. The quota will be applicable for all the annual admissions that take place to all the classes in a school. Authorities say that this will be communicated officially to schools as soon as the final decision is cleared, which may take about a week. "We all have a responsibility towards the society. The government is committed to the cause and will be finalising the course of action very soon, said education minister Arvinder Singh Lovely. (Times of India 8.4.04) 10 th April UGC plan for univs: you raise money and we control you (11) NEW DELHI, APRIL 9: HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi wants to subsidise the IIMs and says no, this doesn't mean interference. If you thought that was anti-reform, take this. Now his Ministry and the Universities Grants Commission have come up with a draft guideline for universities across the country, most of them less fancy and much poorer than the IIMs: raise your own money and the Council of Ministers has the right to interfere. When contacted, V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chairman of the UGC, said that that the purpose of the guidelines was to provoke discussions. "Nothing can be considered final as yet," he said. What discussion will happen is anybody's guess since although suggestions are open till the end of the year, the questionnaire sent with the draft strangely does not seek opinion on the two key issues: raising money and interference. While the draft guideline urges universities to ensure "mobilisation of financial resources to become self-sufficient," it brazenly opens the door to in-your-face political meddling. For, the guidelines suggest that for the first time the Council of Ministers of the Centre or the state will have a hand in running the universities through the Visitor. (Indian Express 10.4.04) 20 th April SFI leader hits out at Centre’s education policy (11) KANNUR, APRIL 19. The Students Federation of India (SFI) all India president, K.K. Ragesh, has said that the BJP-led NDA Government's claims about 'shining' in all fields, including the education sector, conceal its real agenda of commercialising and communalising the education system. Speaking at a press conference here today, Mr. Ragesh said that the country had nearly five crore children in the age group of 6-14 who were denied admissions to schools across the country. The Thapas Majumdar Committee, appointed by the Centre, had recommended to the Government to earmark Rs. 1,36,922 crores over a period of 10 years to ensure admission to these children. The Government's claim of 60 per cent achievement of this target by spending Rs. 16,000 crores and ensuring admission of three crore children in schools was not true, he said. As per the Human Resources Development Ministry report, only Rs. 5,788.76 crores had so far been spent for the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan project. Referring to the Central Government's claim that there had been a rise in the number of professional colleges, Mr. Ragesh said that the Government had slashed the budgetary allocation for higher education over the years. The allocation of Rs. 2164.7 crores in 1994 had dropped to Rs. 1749.4 crores in 2003-2004, Mr. Ragesh said. (The Hindu 20.4.04) 22 nd April Seats for poor: List schools, orders court (11) NEW DELHI, APRIL 21: THE Delhi High Court today directed the Delhi Government to publish the list of unaided private schools who had been allotted land at concessional rates on the condition that they would reserve 25 per cent seats for the weaker sections of the society. A bench, comprising Chief Justice B.C. Patel and Justice B.D.Ahmed, also directed the government to indicate in an advertisement the percentage of admission allotted by each school to children coming from poor families. Delhi Education Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said: "We have no problems with the order. We will disclose the names of the schools that are not following
Page 1 and 2: EDUCATION - 2004 Compiled & Edited
Page 3 and 4: GUWAHATI, FEB. 4. The Axom Sarba Si
Page 5 and 6: Anger against profound illiteracy (
Page 7: The Central officials brought up a
Page 11 and 12: HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi no
Page 13 and 14: Secondary Education, the Union Publ
Page 15 and 16: New Delhi, May 22: The new human re
Page 17 and 18: y his ministry "which puts the stud
Page 19 and 20: NEW DELHI, JUNE 1. The Bharatiya Ja
Page 21 and 22: agree with. "These books were not w
Page 23 and 24: handing over higher education to ma
Page 25 and 26: College, at a press conference here
Page 27 and 28: CABE, somewhat smaller in size had
Page 29 and 30: 'History of India can't be history
Page 31 and 32: Another TN school catches fire, non
Page 33 and 34: anch of a nationalised bank to that
Page 35 and 36: 11. The notices were issued after h
Page 37 and 38: the situation is the same in almost
Page 39 and 40: A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has sought corpo
Page 41 and 42: transparent manner," the release ad
Page 43 and 44: anners inviting applications for ad
Page 45 and 46: shades of saffron and ask the autho
Page 47 and 48: function in his hometown of Vadnaga
Page 49 and 50: egarding minority education in the
Page 51 and 52: The evaluators compared learning le
Page 53 and 54: 9 th Nov. India again gets red grad
Page 55 and 56: other Central government institutes
Page 57 and 58: she added. According to sources, ex
Page 59:
Bill on panel for minority bodies p
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