Taken from http://in.news.yahoo.com/061217/48/6ad9x.html
For Minakshi Sahu (26), a PhD student at the Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, the transition from Hindi to English has not been smooth. She had studied till Std XII in Chhattisgarh in the Hindi medium and had to struggle to understand her course books, which were in English.
"I'd always carry a Hindi-English dictionary and worry about clearing the exams," she said. "But then, there was no option. I had to learn."
In her four years at the IIT, Sahu has come to grasp the many English technical terms of which she had only known the Hindi version.
But the Hindi cell at the institute is working to make things easier for students like her with a slew of measures to encourage teaching and technical writing in Hindi.
Last year, the cell conducted a seminar on 'Scientific & Technical Education in Hindi'. According to Prof S.C. Kaushik, who heads the cell, it was well-received by students and faculty, and a series of recommendations on encouraging the use of Hindi was drawn up and sent to Dr Surendra Prasad, the institute director.
The cell has recommended that synopses of all lectures be prepared in Hindi and that students wishing to write exams or research papers in that language be allowed to do so. It has also said that teachers who can teach in English and Hindi should be encouraged.
The cell is also offering assistance to faculty members who want to write books in Hindi. One on rural technology, by Prof R.C. Maheshwari, has already been released, and, says Kaushik, a couple of professors have expressed desire to write Hindi books on the topics they teach.
The cell also conducts Hindi classes for non-Hindi speaking students - mainly those from south India - who wish to learn the language for practical purposes.
"More than 40 students from south India have already written to us requesting a refresher course in Hindi," said Kaushik.
Measures are also on to bring in complete implementation of Hindi in administrative work. Col Rajendra Singh, the registrar, said the Senate Manual and other important documents are being translated into Hindi, while the administrative staff is being trained in the use of Hindi software.
"The use of Hindi in official work has increased. We are also trying to get engineering books in Hindi for our library," said Singh. "This will not only promote usage of Hindi but will go a long way in promoting all vernacular languages in scientific and technical education."
Some students argue that Hindi cannot meet the requirements of technical education, but they know the argument doesn't hold water.
"After all, all developed nations have compiled research in their own language," says Manoj Gupta, a research student at the Faculty of Energy Studies. "This is not to say we must not promote English. Sadly today, Hindi today is perceived as for people who come from the cow belt."
Monday, December 18, 2006
An article on Angrezia Atyaachaar
I will just put a link here. This article has been written by Anunad Singh ji. A thought provoking article titled "भारत में अंगरेजिया अत्याचार"!
http://pratibhaas.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post.html
http://pratibhaas.blogspot.com/2006/06/blog-post.html
Thursday, December 7, 2006
MTV International's well being index
Source: http://www.indiantelevision.com/mam/headlines/y2k6/nov/novmam66.htm
MTV International has developed the Wellbeing Index to compare the perceived wellbeing of 16-34 year-olds in different parts of the world.
The index is based on the perceptions of young people, how they feel about safety, where they fit in to their society and how they see their future. The country where young people had the greatest perceived sense of well being was India, followed by Sweden with the US coming third.
MTV International president Bill Roedy says, "The index is a unique and original way of looking at well being by focussing on the perceptions of the young people themselves .Overall our study showed that developing countries had considerably higher levels of happiness and optimism, but that other factors such as the lack of personal safety compromised their perceived wellbeing."
The Wellbeing Study's main findings are:
The Future
- Kids in developing countries were more positive about their future than those in developed nations.
- A majority of 16-34 year-olds in developing nations expected their lives to be more enjoyable in the future, led by China with 84 per cent.
- More 8-15 year-olds in developing nations expected to have more fun in the future than 8-15 year-olds in developed countries. 83 per cent of Chinese, 69 per cent of South African and 68 per cent of Mexican 8-15 year-olds expected their lives to be more fun, compared to 51 per cent of American, 42 per cent of French and just 30 per cent of German kids.
-- In contrast to developing nations, a majority in every developed country expected to earn less than their parents.
-- Some 79 per cent of Indonesians and 78 per cent of Chinese 16-34 year-olds believed that they will earn more than their parents. Just 17 per cent of Japanese, 27 per cent of Germans and 32 per cent of French thought the same.
Happiness
- Globally, only 43 per cent of 16-34 year-olds asked said they were happy with the way things were. Younger children aged 8-15 were happier, but surprisingly not much more so: 57 per cent on average.
- However, developed nations dragged down the averages. Young people in developing countries were at least twice as likely to feel happy as their counterparts in developed nations.
- More than 70 per cent of 16-34 year-olds, and 80 per cent of 8-15 year-olds said that they were happy in Argentina and Mexico, versus fewer than 30 per cent of 16-34 year-olds and under 50 per cent of 8-15 year-olds in the US and the UK.
Religion
- Young people in the developing world were more religious, and there was a correlation between youth who were actively religious and happiness levels. Over half of 16-34 year-old Indonesians, Brazilians and Indians said they were religious, compared to one in four in the USA and one in 10 in Sweden and Germany.
- 76 per cent of Japanese, 63 per cent of French and 50 per cent of Swedes asked said that they were faithless.
-- 40 per cent of Germans and 35 per cent of Americans described themselves as believing in a higher power, but found traditional religious institutions too rigid.
Stress
- One consistent finding across ages and in every country was the pressure on youth to succeed. Kids and young people are stressing about the same things as adults. More than half of 8-15 year-olds worry about getting a job. By comparison, only 34 per cent were concerned about fitting in at school and only 25 per cent worried about looking cool.
- 66 per cent of 8-15 year-old Brazilians were worried about their weight while 93 per cent said that looking good was a sign of success.
- 65 per cent of 16-34 year-olds chose listening to music as their main form sof stress relief, with television (48 per cent) their second choice. For younger children, watching television (59 per cent) was slightly more popular than music (58 per cent).
Terror and safety
- Terrorism came just eighth in the list of fears for 16-34 year-olds and 10th in the list of fears for 8-15 year-olds. Parents dying, cancer, Aids, and robbery were greater fears for both age groups.
- Personal safety is a major issue for young people in the developing world.
- Kids in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia were the most fearful about their personal safety.
- The forces of globalization and constant access to the news media create a world that feels less safe to kids and young people in all countries. The more news media young people watched, the less safe they felt.
National patriotism
- Kids from developing nations appear to be more patriotic.
-- 91 per cent of Indian 16-34 year-olds were proud of their country. By contrast only one in three 16-34 year-olds were proud to be German or Japanese.
-- 63 per cent of Americans asked were proud of their country.
School and bullying
- In 12 out of the 14 countries surveyed more than two thirds of 8-15 year-olds said that getting good grades in school was their top priority.
- The figures ranged from 88 per cent in South Africa to just 37 per cent in Sweden.
- While bullying happens everywhere, it is more of a problem in the developed world.
- 56 per cent of kids in the USA and UK said they had been victims of bullying, following by Denmark, France and South Africa on 49 per cent. However, a developing nation, Argentina, topped the list of kids who had been bullied, with 72 per cent.
MTV International has developed the Wellbeing Index to compare the perceived wellbeing of 16-34 year-olds in different parts of the world.
The index is based on the perceptions of young people, how they feel about safety, where they fit in to their society and how they see their future. The country where young people had the greatest perceived sense of well being was India, followed by Sweden with the US coming third.
MTV International president Bill Roedy says, "The index is a unique and original way of looking at well being by focussing on the perceptions of the young people themselves .Overall our study showed that developing countries had considerably higher levels of happiness and optimism, but that other factors such as the lack of personal safety compromised their perceived wellbeing."
The Wellbeing Study's main findings are:
The Future
- Kids in developing countries were more positive about their future than those in developed nations.
- A majority of 16-34 year-olds in developing nations expected their lives to be more enjoyable in the future, led by China with 84 per cent.
- More 8-15 year-olds in developing nations expected to have more fun in the future than 8-15 year-olds in developed countries. 83 per cent of Chinese, 69 per cent of South African and 68 per cent of Mexican 8-15 year-olds expected their lives to be more fun, compared to 51 per cent of American, 42 per cent of French and just 30 per cent of German kids.
-- In contrast to developing nations, a majority in every developed country expected to earn less than their parents.
-- Some 79 per cent of Indonesians and 78 per cent of Chinese 16-34 year-olds believed that they will earn more than their parents. Just 17 per cent of Japanese, 27 per cent of Germans and 32 per cent of French thought the same.
Happiness
- Globally, only 43 per cent of 16-34 year-olds asked said they were happy with the way things were. Younger children aged 8-15 were happier, but surprisingly not much more so: 57 per cent on average.
- However, developed nations dragged down the averages. Young people in developing countries were at least twice as likely to feel happy as their counterparts in developed nations.
- More than 70 per cent of 16-34 year-olds, and 80 per cent of 8-15 year-olds said that they were happy in Argentina and Mexico, versus fewer than 30 per cent of 16-34 year-olds and under 50 per cent of 8-15 year-olds in the US and the UK.
Religion
- Young people in the developing world were more religious, and there was a correlation between youth who were actively religious and happiness levels. Over half of 16-34 year-old Indonesians, Brazilians and Indians said they were religious, compared to one in four in the USA and one in 10 in Sweden and Germany.
- 76 per cent of Japanese, 63 per cent of French and 50 per cent of Swedes asked said that they were faithless.
-- 40 per cent of Germans and 35 per cent of Americans described themselves as believing in a higher power, but found traditional religious institutions too rigid.
Stress
- One consistent finding across ages and in every country was the pressure on youth to succeed. Kids and young people are stressing about the same things as adults. More than half of 8-15 year-olds worry about getting a job. By comparison, only 34 per cent were concerned about fitting in at school and only 25 per cent worried about looking cool.
- 66 per cent of 8-15 year-old Brazilians were worried about their weight while 93 per cent said that looking good was a sign of success.
- 65 per cent of 16-34 year-olds chose listening to music as their main form sof stress relief, with television (48 per cent) their second choice. For younger children, watching television (59 per cent) was slightly more popular than music (58 per cent).
Terror and safety
- Terrorism came just eighth in the list of fears for 16-34 year-olds and 10th in the list of fears for 8-15 year-olds. Parents dying, cancer, Aids, and robbery were greater fears for both age groups.
- Personal safety is a major issue for young people in the developing world.
- Kids in Brazil, Mexico and Indonesia were the most fearful about their personal safety.
- The forces of globalization and constant access to the news media create a world that feels less safe to kids and young people in all countries. The more news media young people watched, the less safe they felt.
National patriotism
- Kids from developing nations appear to be more patriotic.
-- 91 per cent of Indian 16-34 year-olds were proud of their country. By contrast only one in three 16-34 year-olds were proud to be German or Japanese.
-- 63 per cent of Americans asked were proud of their country.
School and bullying
- In 12 out of the 14 countries surveyed more than two thirds of 8-15 year-olds said that getting good grades in school was their top priority.
- The figures ranged from 88 per cent in South Africa to just 37 per cent in Sweden.
- While bullying happens everywhere, it is more of a problem in the developed world.
- 56 per cent of kids in the USA and UK said they had been victims of bullying, following by Denmark, France and South Africa on 49 per cent. However, a developing nation, Argentina, topped the list of kids who had been bullied, with 72 per cent.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
Bridging the Digital Divide in India
This interesting news item taken from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2006/gb20061130_981528.htm?chan=globalbiz_asia_technology
Satyan Mishra is hoping to bridge the digital divide in one of the world's most populous nations--India--while making money at the same time.
A saint he may not be, but this 33-year-old has honourable and altruistic intentions which the world could certainly do more of. It is people like Mishra who, with their business and technology smarts, are capable of helping the underdeveloped parts of the world enrich their lives by gaining access to modern technology and services.
The founder of Drishtee Dot Com told ZDNet Asia that he shares his Technopreneur of Year award with his team. "It's a great recognition for the entire team of Drishtee. We have all worked hard over the last six years to build an organization to service the rural community. In the process, we also built processes and the financial discipline which is being appreciated now. This Asian Technopreneur award puts Drishtee at the forefront of world attention."
Looking back on the early days of the company's development, Mishra said: "It has been a tough ride for all of us."
Like most startups, Mishra faced challenges like insufficient capital and clout, and not to mention the numerous skeptics who doubted Drishtee's vision. Few people saw what he envisioned--the potential of bringing infocomm technologies to India's villages.
Thinking out of the box, Mishra and his team has facilitated the creation of a rural networking infrastructure through a tiered franchise and partnership model. So far, Drishtee has installed 1,020 kiosks throughout rural India. Together with local businesses, Drishtee delivers a wide range of ICT-based services such as enhanced access to e-government, education and healthcare information.
Instead of incurring high costs in terms of transportation and wage losses, villagers save time and transport costs by accessing government services and information on the kiosks, as they do not need to travel to government offices located in faraway cities.
Drishtee's has had other far-reaching positive impact: it has helped to create employment opportunities, reversed the tide of rural migration, and improved access to information and knowledge. It uses IT as a tool for basic education thus creating a new breed of IT-literate generation.
Despite the company's achievements, a modest Mishra said Drishtee has merely created "a foundation".
"The difference is still very small to satisfy us or to make us look back," he said. "Today, an ICT kiosk solves just 5 percent of the problems by providing services such as computer education, insurance and governance services."
"The real impact will come when we start our community-driven services like health and micro finance. These services will have a fundamental impact on the lives of Indian villagers," he said.
"Last financial year, we hit the 1,000-kisok mark which breaks certain barriers of skepticism," he added. "But the next target is an ambitious number of 10,000 kiosks in the next three years. We have started the rollout and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
Mishra holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Delhi University. He has extensive software development experience, and says he is "not a techie by education but by profession". He combines his managerial and technical expertise to realize his dream of making a difference in the lives of ordinary Indian villagers.
Perhaps he is a saint after all.
Satyan Mishra is hoping to bridge the digital divide in one of the world's most populous nations--India--while making money at the same time.
A saint he may not be, but this 33-year-old has honourable and altruistic intentions which the world could certainly do more of. It is people like Mishra who, with their business and technology smarts, are capable of helping the underdeveloped parts of the world enrich their lives by gaining access to modern technology and services.
The founder of Drishtee Dot Com told ZDNet Asia that he shares his Technopreneur of Year award with his team. "It's a great recognition for the entire team of Drishtee. We have all worked hard over the last six years to build an organization to service the rural community. In the process, we also built processes and the financial discipline which is being appreciated now. This Asian Technopreneur award puts Drishtee at the forefront of world attention."
Looking back on the early days of the company's development, Mishra said: "It has been a tough ride for all of us."
Like most startups, Mishra faced challenges like insufficient capital and clout, and not to mention the numerous skeptics who doubted Drishtee's vision. Few people saw what he envisioned--the potential of bringing infocomm technologies to India's villages.
Thinking out of the box, Mishra and his team has facilitated the creation of a rural networking infrastructure through a tiered franchise and partnership model. So far, Drishtee has installed 1,020 kiosks throughout rural India. Together with local businesses, Drishtee delivers a wide range of ICT-based services such as enhanced access to e-government, education and healthcare information.
Instead of incurring high costs in terms of transportation and wage losses, villagers save time and transport costs by accessing government services and information on the kiosks, as they do not need to travel to government offices located in faraway cities.
Drishtee's has had other far-reaching positive impact: it has helped to create employment opportunities, reversed the tide of rural migration, and improved access to information and knowledge. It uses IT as a tool for basic education thus creating a new breed of IT-literate generation.
Despite the company's achievements, a modest Mishra said Drishtee has merely created "a foundation".
"The difference is still very small to satisfy us or to make us look back," he said. "Today, an ICT kiosk solves just 5 percent of the problems by providing services such as computer education, insurance and governance services."
"The real impact will come when we start our community-driven services like health and micro finance. These services will have a fundamental impact on the lives of Indian villagers," he said.
"Last financial year, we hit the 1,000-kisok mark which breaks certain barriers of skepticism," he added. "But the next target is an ambitious number of 10,000 kiosks in the next three years. We have started the rollout and we are keeping our fingers crossed."
Mishra holds a Masters of Business Administration from the Delhi University. He has extensive software development experience, and says he is "not a techie by education but by profession". He combines his managerial and technical expertise to realize his dream of making a difference in the lives of ordinary Indian villagers.
Perhaps he is a saint after all.
Friday, December 1, 2006
School Curriculum - from NCERT
Post taken from: http://ncert.nic.in/sites/publication/schoolcurriculum/learningwithoutburdentext.htm
I Concern regarding academic burden on students and unsatisfactory quality of learning has been voiced time and again in our country during the past two decades. The question has been discussed extensively by several committees and groups. The Ishwarbhai Patel Review Committee (1977), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Working Group (1984) and National Policy on Education (NPE) Review Committees (1990) made several recommendations to reduce the academic burden on students. The curriculum development agencies are generally in agreement with the recommendations of the committee and assure the public that these would be kept in view at the time of the forthcoming revision of curricula. But the problem, instead of being mitigated, becomes more acute when a new curriculum is introduced. This has happened in the case of new curriculum introduced in the wake of implementation of NPE (1986). With a view to have a fresh look on the problems of education, particularly with regard to the problem of academic burden on students, the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, set up a National Advisory Committee in March 1992 with the following terms of reference: Before starting its work, the Committee decided the parameters of its work and also the methodology for completing the task entrusted to it. With a view to keeping a national perspective in view, the Committee decided not to confine its work to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) or NCERT syllabi and textbooks but to take into account the textbooks used in different states and union territories also. Secondly, the Committee decided to base its recommendations on the data obtained through perception surveys, wide-ranging consultations with teachers and analysis of textbooks and other instructional materials. Thirdly, the Committee decided to look at the work of agencies/organisations doing innovative programmes. The process of consultation was initiated with a meeting with a few faculty members of NCERT followed by meetings with teachers and principals working in different states at four places in the country, viz. Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune and Calcutta. The consultation meetings were also held with voluntary organisations engaged in innovative programmes, syllabus and textbook writers, private publishers, and Chairpersons of Boards of Secondary Education. Some members of the Committee organised meetings with parents, teachers and students at Bombay, Nasik, Baroda and Calcutta. Surveys to ascertain the opinions of teachers and parents were conducted with the help of questionnaires at Bombay and Delhi. To involve the whole country in this exercise of looking at the problems of school education from the perspective of mechanical load of studies on children, views and suggestions were invited from the students, teachers, parents and general public through advertisements in the The wide-ranging consultations with knowledgeable people, analysis of the existing instructional materials and reactions of the teachers and students have enabled the Committee to understand the functioning of the present educational system which forms the basis of its In its work, the Committee received cooperation from a large number of teachers, principals, syllabus and textbook writers, organisations, associations and departments. We gratefully acknowledge their contribution in our work. Particularly, we are grateful to the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Delhi, where the Committee's office was located, for providing all types of administrative support which tremendously facilitated our work. We are also thankful to NCERT and its Department of Social Sciences and Humanities for providing finances and other facilities for holding meetings of the Committee. The education departments of the states of Kerala, Maharashtra and West Bengal, and the NCERT Field Advisors in these states deserve appreciation for hosting the regional consultation meetings held at Thiruvananthapuram, Pune and Calcutta. Special thanks are due to voluntary organisations, Alia Rippu, Digantar and Eklavya for sharing their experiences with the members of the Committee. We express our sense of gratitude to the authorities of Doordarshan and Akashvani for making special announcement requesting the audience to send their views and suggestions to the Committee. Above all, we are extremely grateful to hundreds of parents,students and teachers who responded to our invitation and sent their views in writing, in many a times after holding meetings /workshops at their places. Smt. Meenu Taneja, stenographer, SCERT, Delhi deserves a pat for providing all sorts of secretarial assistance and for typing minutes, discussion papers and finally the report. II 1. Preamble The weight of the school bag represents one dimension of the problem; another dimension can be seen in the child's daily routine. Right from early childhood, many children specially those belonging to middle classes, are made to slog through home work, tuitions and coaching classes of different kinds. Leisure has become a highly scarce commodity in the child's, especially the urban child's life. The child's innate nature and capacities have no opportunity to find expression in a daily routine which permits no time to play, to enjoy simple pleasures, and to 2. Joyless Learning One message of this situation is that both the teacher and the child have lost the sense of joy in being involved in an educational process. Teaching and learning have both become a chore for a great number of teachers and children. Barring those studying in reputed or exceptional institutions, the majority of our school-going children are made to view learning at school as a boring, even unpleasant and bitter experience. They are daily socialised to look upon education as mainly a process of preparing for examinations. No other motivarion seems to have any legitimacy. The contribution that teachers make towards this kind of socialisation is especially worrisome. Trained teachers are expected to be aware of the wider aims of education; indeed, aims like `development of the child's total personality' are the shibboleths of teacher training institutions everywhere in the country. It appears that teachers feel they can do little to pursue such lofty aims in any realistic sense under the harsh circumstances created by factors like excessively large classes, a heavy syllabus, difficult textbooks, and so on. Moreover, majority of them neither know nor have the necessary skills to realise the goals of education. The recommended pupil-teacher ratio of forty to one is now more an exception than a norm, and in many parts of the country it is customary to have sixty to eighty students in one class. The Committee learnt that in many states senior secondary classes often have one hundred or more students, many of them spilling into the corridor. In the national capital, many `model' secondary schools, Central Schools, and several elite `public' schools have classes, including primary classes, with more than sixty students. This kind of class-size understandably generates a feeling of helplessness among teachers, but why must teachers feel helpless in the face of curriculum-related problems such as heavy syllabi, poorly produced textbooks, etc.? Why don't they act in more vocal ways and involve themselves in curriculum reform? Apart from the fact that there are very few forums encouraging curriculum inquiry and reform in any systematic manner, it seems to be an entrenched attitude among teachers to regard all decisions about curriculum and textbooks as the responsibility of `authorities'. The fact is that while the teachers' involvement in the preparation of syllabi and textbooks is verbalised as a matter of principle, in practice it takes the shape of token involvement of a handful of teachers. Most teachers have reason, therefore, to think that they have little to say about the changes made from time to time in syllabi and textbooks. Even in such extreme cases where a textbook has a factual mistake, no complaints are made by teachers asking for correction of error. There is no established procedure or official forum to mobilise teacher vigilance and participation in curriculum improvement. On the contrary, there are cases where an individual teacher who complained about an error in a state-published textbook, was taken to task. Even if such cases can be described as rare or exceptionally unfortunate, they explain why the majority of teachers intuitively feel that it is not their business to critically examine the syllabus and texts they teach. 3. Examination System Both the teacher and the parents constantly reinforce the fear of examination and the need to prepare for it in the only manner that seems practical, namely, by memorising a whole lot of information from the textbooks and guidebooks. Educated parents, who have themselves gone through examinations, and the uneducated parents, whose knowledge of the examination system is based on social lore, share the belief that what really matters in education is the score 4. Textbook as the `Truth' The term pH is defined as the negative logarithm to the base 10 of the hydrogen ion concentration expressed in gram ions per litre or moles per litre. (Class X) * Class VIII science textbook prepared by NCERT. Fatty acids are slowly hydrolysed during digestion in the small intestine to form glycero and fatty acids through the enzyme action of lipase which is secreted by the pancreas. (Class X) The problem of readability in textbooks becomes grim in the context of a system which often leaves the child with no resource other than the prescribed textbook. The extent to which the child can rely on a teacher to elucidate tersely written text material is dependent on the quality of teachers, their training, and their accountability. From what impression the Committee could form about these aspects of the system, it seems valid to say that the child is very often helpless in the face of a style of teaching that is far from being interactive, let alone the absence or irregular presence of teachers. (And we are not saying that the teachers alone are responsible for the kind of teaching that takes place daily in lakhs of classrooms that have hardly any equipment and often not even a proper means of ventilation or lighting.) Under the circumstances that are widely prevalent in our country, a child is more likely than not to mug up the definition of `pH' quoted above without grasping it. And mugging does get the child through the examination! Textbooks and guidebooks form a right nexus. In some parts of the country children are compelled to buy the guidebook (or `key') along with the textbook. The economic and business aspects of this pairing apart, the academic function of the textbook has become quite dubious indeed. It is not perceived as one of the resources for learning about a subject, but as the only authoritative resource. This kind of sanctity distorts what useful purpose the textbook could serve. Teachers see it as a body of `truths' which children must learn by heart. This perception and urge to `cover' the chapters of the prescribed textbook, turn all knowledge into a load to be borne by the child's memory. The distance between the child's everyday life and the content of the textbook further accentuates the transformation of knowledge into a load. We are not talking here about advanced science or mathematics, but about elementary science, social studies, language and arithmetic. Textbooks treat these subjects in a manner that leads to alienation of knowledge from the child's world. This tragic phenomenon takes different forms in different subjects. In the natural sciences, it takes the form of esotericisation of the subject. In the social sciences it becomes manifest in the coating of every inquiry in didacticism, suggestive of one preferred answer to every question. A common source of alienation of subject-matter from the children's perspective and life is the presentation of the life-style and world view of the urban well-off class. This life-style is characterised by access to concrete housing, modern kitchens, electrical gadgets, and so on. Of course there is nothing `wrong' with this life-style; but the symbolisation of this life-style in every illustration and description that concerns a child's home life alienates millions of children who live in houses with traditional kitchens, or with no separate kitchens. Objects of daily use in common Indian homes, such as a broom or clay pitcher, are seldom seen in textbooks. One wonders whether the common Indian broom, which could be a versatile resource for learning about the social and physical environment, is perceived by our textbook writers and illustrators with a sense of stigma or as a symbol of backwardness. Or could it be that it is simply too common to be seen as being of any use in an educational material? Neither of the two guesses is totally irrelevant in view of the complete absence of common objects of ordinary Indian life in the world depicted in textbooks. The most common message that children get from the textbooks is that the life ordinary people live is `wrong' or irrational. And this kind of didactic rejection does not apply to non-middle class life alone. All simple joys of childhood are also criticised. No better example of this can be given than the message conveyed in a Class V exercise which asks children to decide whether the statement `Road is also a playground', is correct or wrong. The right response is that this statement is `wrong', the message of the lesson being that playing on the street can be dangerous. This message is of course true in a normative sense, but it ignores the reality of the overwhelming majority of urban children who have no other space except the street to play. The moot point is not the scarcity of space, but rather the need to accept the universally valid fact that children enjoy playing on the street. This joy must be respected in a text written from a child-centred point of view. To argue that a respectful acknowledgement of this joy will amount to sanctioning carelessness, or to say that children must be warned about the risks of playing on the street is to trivialise the issue. Every child who plays on the street fully knows the dangers involved in it. Science textbooks need not waste valuable pages on such trivial preaching which is precisely what they do throughout the elementary classes in place of using these golden years of childhood to arouse curiosity about things and ideas. 5. Language Textbooks 6. Observation Discouraged 7. Structure of Syllabus Repetitions of concepts and information also leads to boredom and a sense of load. The need to repeat is rooted in the flawed structure of syllabi. In the primary classes, ideas and information are presented in a synoptic manner, making the text look deceptively simple. In the later classes, the same ideas are repeated, with some elaboration which does not prevent the child from viewing the ideas as trivialised by repetition. In the study of nutrition and health, History is the most clear case in point. Although it forms one part of the subject called social sciences, it offers a prime example of curriculum load. Despite many changes that have come about in the style of history texts, the history syllabus continues to be a frustrating and meaningless experience for children. The aim of teaching history is defeated because children are not enabled to relate to their own heritage. Traditionally, it requires children to form an overall picture of the `whole' of India's known history, from ancient to modern times, during the three years from Classes VI to VIII. Since the texts for these classes are required to cover such a vast span, the density of these texts becomes extremely high which means that historical time is greatly compressed, i.e. a few sentences are deemed to `cover' several decades. The synoptic style forces the child into `accepting' whatever is narrated. There aren't enough details that a child could use to work out some kind of argument or interpretation, but the sheer volume of text (which is supposed to `cover' `all' of India's history in three years) forces the child (and the teacher) to `take in' as much text as possible without `wasting' time in studying or constructing an argument. This common problem of the history syllabus apart, we found that the content of the history syllabus in certain states was conceived as a densely packed box of informations. The syllabus of history in West Bengal illustrates this tendency in tragically exaggerated proportions. For example in Class VIII, children are required to learn 17 topics in all which are : The entire syllabus is to be covered in 135 pages of a text, according to the instruction given in the syllabus itself. Apparently, the syllabus makers believe that compression of information in terms of page-space does not affect the readability, let alone comprehensibility, of a text. 8. Teaching Everything In mathematics, the situation seems to be grim right from the start of the child's school carrier. Far too many abstractions are introduced all at once with scant attention paid to well-known facts about development of mathematical thinking in children. To begin with, children are expected to handle arithmetical operations on a very large numbers early. In Class I, they are supposed to go up to 100 (compared to this a British child in this class spends the whole year working with numbers up to 20), in Class II up to 1000, in Class III, up to 10,000, in Class IV up to a million, and in Class V up to a crore. Even though the conservation of volume and weight are known to emerge in the child's mind after the conservation of length is fully established, all three are introduced simultaneously (usually in one unit of study) at the young age of seven or eight years, with the expectation that children will compute with standard units. Concrete operational thought, which is characteristic of elementary school children, demands manipulation of objects and activities using a variety of materials (to enable `elaboration' of a concept, i.e. its dislocation from any one material or object). Such activities become impossible to organise under a curriculum which progresses so swiftly from concept to concept. Also, children of this stage find proportional reasoning difficult yet percentage and ratio are introduced in Classes IV and V. In the middle and higher classes, the tendency to follow the logic of the discipline of mathematics rather than psychology of learning as the basis of the curriculum becomes even more dominant. Mathematics, thus, acquires the image of an esoteric discipline which has little application in the real life of the child. 9. Starting Early 10. Not Just an Urban Problem III 1. Knowledge vs Information The notion that there has been an explosion of knowledge apparently treats knowledge and information as synonymous. It is true that the twentieth century has been a period of massive expansion in human capacity to find new facts and to store them, but the concepts and theories that assist in the generation and organisation of information can hardly be said to have multiplied at an `explosive' rate. (It is another matter that in an ex-colonial society it often looks as if all new `knowledge' is being produced by `others' and our job is simply to `learn' and It is mostly the first two meanings that hold in the context of formal education in our country, the first being used as a basis for the second. `Understanding' is often confused with `acquisition of facts'. 2. Isolation of Experts from Classroom Realities 3. Centralised Character This circular argument has created a situation in which curriculum and textbook preparation is confined to the state capitals and New Delhi. At regional and local levels, teachers do not perceive curriculum development and preparation of educational materials as part of their job. And indeed, the way these tasks have been defined and traditionally carried out in our country, they are not the teacher's job. The teacher sees his or her role as one of elucidating whatever content of knowledge is prescribed in the syllabus. At the primary and lower secondary stages, teachers come to know the syllabus through the textbook which acts as the de facto syllabus. `Covering' the syllabus means `covering' or finishing the textbook. This kind of perception results in the confinement of classroom life to a narrow orbit. Classroom knowledge assumes total independence from the child's own experience and knowledge of the world. As a consequence of this de-coupling, children begin to compartmentalise knowledge into two categories: that which has currency in the school and classroom, and the other which has uses and relevance outside the school. Necessarily, the knowledge in the first category ceases to have any life' and becomes increasingly ritualistic and burdensome.Teachers also carry the same kind of categorisation in their mind; very few of them are able to help the child make bridges between what is learnt at school and what is required to face real-life situations. One teacher who tried to make such a bridge in a lesson about letter-writing was asked by a Class VI child: "Madam, shall we write it the way we write at home or in the school way?" While several factors, including those related to the training of teachers, can be held responsible for this aspect of the situation, we feel that the centralised structures of syllabus and textbook preparation set the tone. Howsoever `good' a textbook produced at central level may be on professional standards, it cannot reflect the subtler nuances of life in a village of Kashmir or Assam. Adaptation to local conditions is indeed officially carried out to match the content of textbooks with local conditions, but it does not change the basic character of a textbook. Adaptation of syllabi to local conditions is even less effectively possible. 4. Convention of `Teaching the Text' 5. Competition-based Social Ethos The educated sections of the society believe that command over English is the key to upward mobility in social life. This has led to unprecedented growth in the number of private schools where English is not only taught as a subject but is also used as medium of education in all subjects right from Class I. It is a well-known fact that young children studying in English-medium schools mug up the content of science and social sciences without understanding. It is an accepted principle of pedagogy that whatever is memorised without understanding proves burdensome for children. Any language other than the mother tongue of the child, if used as medium of instruction, is a big source of academic burden on children. Most of the parents in urban and semi-urban areas do not realise it, in fact they try to promote the use of English as medium of education. Unfortunately, instead of resisting the pressure of the competitive spirit prevalent in the society or directing it in appropriate channels, our educational system has succumbed to it. The most conspicuous manifestations of this phenomenon in education are upgradation of content of syllabus by advancing introduction of many topics and subjects in utter disregard of the process of maturation. The entrance tests for admission to professional courses like engineering and medicine have influenced the objectives, content and methodology of education in many ways. The `quiz culture' which has taken roots in education, can be attributed to these tests. 6. Absence of Academic Ethos IV We have come to the conclusion that the problem of the load on school children does not arise only from over-enthusiastic curriculum designers, or poorly equipped teachers, or school administrators, or book publishers, or district, state or central education authorities. Yes, what all these groups, agencies and administrators do can exacerbate or alleviate the problem. But, there is a deeper malaise in our society, which impacts our young children. If we continue to value a few elite qualifications far more than real competence for doing useful things in life, and if the economic distance, between those who can manage to cross some academic hurdles and those who can't, continues to widen, we will probably continue to spend our effort in designing hurdles, instead of opportunities for children to learn with joy. As the body of the Report analyses, a major problem is connected with the notions of `knowledge explosion' and the `catching up' syndrome. We believe that these problems cannot be fully addressed through easily manageable administrative actions. They need wider discussions because they are centrally connected with images of our civilization, self-esteem and societal goals. Such a wide discussion can come about through publication of this Report, and through a set of seminars, meetings and media discussions. Academics, thinkers, need to pour over this basic problem. 1. A number of organisations and departments organise competitions at district, state and national level for students in various fields such as school subjects, exhibitions, essay writing, elocution, etc. Perhaps the spirit behind these activities is to recognise and reward the talent in diverse fields. But, unfortunately this tends to produce somewhat unhealthy singling out of people for their brief moment of glory. Competitions where individual achievement is rewarded need to be discouraged since they deprive children of joyful learning. However, group activities and group achievements must be encouraged and rewarded to give a boost to cooperative learning in schools. |
HRD ministry wanted to abolish English medium education?
I came across this interesting post today. Not sure if it was true :)
http://prayatna.typepad.com/education/2003/09/hrd_minister_jo.html
http://prayatna.typepad.com/education/2003/09/hrd_minister_jo.html
Language Policy and Status of English as a Medium of Instruction A Contextual Analysis
Written by: BENUDHAR CHINARA Department of Education North Eastern Hill University Mizoram Campus, Aizawl (Taken from http://ncert.nic.in/sites/publication/j1jr_ed_4.htm)
In a mulltilingual country like India, the medium of instruction from primary to higher education has always been an issue. The magnitude of the problem is evident at different stages of education. Out of a total of 1652 languages and dialects only are used as media of instruction in schools. English as a medium of instruction continues to dominate over vernacular media in colleges and universities. It continues to be an exclusive medium in medical, agricultural and engineering courses. And this has often been the subject of discussion among academicians in spite of certain policy-decisions undertaken at the national level. What decisions have exactly been taken by the policy-makers? To what extent have the decisions taken so far been successfully implemented? How far are they to the ground reality? The paper strives to seek answers to these questions through an analysis of the language policy and the status of English as a medium of instruction at both the levels of school education (primary and secondary) and higher education (college and university).
School Education
INDIA CONSTITUTIONALLY (Article 350 and 350-A) guarantees primary education to every child in the mother tongue of the child. This provision has been duly recognized by different commissions and committees appointed by the Government of India from time to time (Education Commission 1964-66, Education Policy 1968, National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986, NPE Review Committee 1990 and Central Advisory Board of education (CABE) Committee 1992). Deviating from the normal course and hitting upon reality the National Advisory Committee 1993 argued that the question of the medium of instruction in early life would not be fully resolved as long as the dominant sections of our society continued to give importance to elementary graces in a foreign language rather than to the vernacular knowledge which our children gained during every week of their growing up before they went to school. Accordingly, the committee restrained itself from repeating the recommendation that the mother tongue alone should be the medium of instruction at the primary stage. At the secondary stage, the States Reorganization Commission commended that the mother tongue be the medium of educational interaction. But the Chief Ministers’ Conference 1961 suggested that the media only be restricted to the modern languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and that English as the medium of instruction at this stage enabled students to choose a vocation and prepared them for university education (Ram Gopal, 1966).
However, the Education Commission 1964-66 was strongly in favour of reorganization of media at the secondary and polytechnic stages. Supporting the then existing status as it was, the NPE Review Committee 1990 recommended that education be imparted in the minority language at the secondary stage in conformity the 15:60 formula. The review of the media of primary and secondary school education indicates that the first four decades after Independence, India mostly witnessed a national policy consensus over the mother tongue medium at both the stages. But the early 1990s showed a policy drift which was flexible in respect of the mother tongue as a compulsory instructional medium at the primary stage.
At present, the overall policy consensus with regard to the educational medium has been implemented more in the breach than in the observance at both primary and secondary stages as is seen from the following.
In a mulltilingual country like India, the medium of instruction from primary to higher education has always been an issue. The magnitude of the problem is evident at different stages of education. Out of a total of 1652 languages and dialects only are used as media of instruction in schools. English as a medium of instruction continues to dominate over vernacular media in colleges and universities. It continues to be an exclusive medium in medical, agricultural and engineering courses. And this has often been the subject of discussion among academicians in spite of certain policy-decisions undertaken at the national level. What decisions have exactly been taken by the policy-makers? To what extent have the decisions taken so far been successfully implemented? How far are they to the ground reality? The paper strives to seek answers to these questions through an analysis of the language policy and the status of English as a medium of instruction at both the levels of school education (primary and secondary) and higher education (college and university).
School Education
INDIA CONSTITUTIONALLY (Article 350 and 350-A) guarantees primary education to every child in the mother tongue of the child. This provision has been duly recognized by different commissions and committees appointed by the Government of India from time to time (Education Commission 1964-66, Education Policy 1968, National Policy on Education (NPE) 1986, NPE Review Committee 1990 and Central Advisory Board of education (CABE) Committee 1992). Deviating from the normal course and hitting upon reality the National Advisory Committee 1993 argued that the question of the medium of instruction in early life would not be fully resolved as long as the dominant sections of our society continued to give importance to elementary graces in a foreign language rather than to the vernacular knowledge which our children gained during every week of their growing up before they went to school. Accordingly, the committee restrained itself from repeating the recommendation that the mother tongue alone should be the medium of instruction at the primary stage. At the secondary stage, the States Reorganization Commission commended that the mother tongue be the medium of educational interaction. But the Chief Ministers’ Conference 1961 suggested that the media only be restricted to the modern languages mentioned in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution and that English as the medium of instruction at this stage enabled students to choose a vocation and prepared them for university education (Ram Gopal, 1966).
However, the Education Commission 1964-66 was strongly in favour of reorganization of media at the secondary and polytechnic stages. Supporting the then existing status as it was, the NPE Review Committee 1990 recommended that education be imparted in the minority language at the secondary stage in conformity the 15:60 formula. The review of the media of primary and secondary school education indicates that the first four decades after Independence, India mostly witnessed a national policy consensus over the mother tongue medium at both the stages. But the early 1990s showed a policy drift which was flexible in respect of the mother tongue as a compulsory instructional medium at the primary stage.
At present, the overall policy consensus with regard to the educational medium has been implemented more in the breach than in the observance at both primary and secondary stages as is seen from the following.
1. English dominates over the mother tongue medium in different schools and of various groups.
- English continues to be the medium in almost all the private elitist schools.
- English or Hindi remains as the medium for most of the majority groups.
- English and Hindi are used as the media of instruction in the Central Schools and the Navodaya Vidyalayas for the children of highly mobile sectors of society and for rural talents respectively.
2. English as a subject of study
- English happens to be the first language and is taught as a subject from Class I in the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and Sikkim.
- Indian States, namely Assam, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh & Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Meghalaya, Manipur, Pondichery, Rajasthan, and Tripura, etc. accept English as the only second language.
Higher Education
The Education Comn-iission 1964-66 had proposed English to remain the principal medium of education and called for a change over to the regional languages media over a ten-year time-frame at the university stage. As the regional languages were already in use as media at the primary and secondary stages, the Education Policy 1968 recommended that urgent steps be taken for progressive adoption of these languages as the media at the university stage. Both NPE 1986 and the Programme of Action 1986 reaffirmed the same. Besides, English as a means to learn non-language subjects was never under-mined. According to the Education Commission 1964-66, “Even if the regional languages become media of higher education, a working knowledge of English with reasonable proficiency will be a valuable asset for those who proceed to the university”. Similarly, the Education Policy 1968 particularly suggested that the study of English be strengthened in order to keep up with the tremendous growth rate of world knowledge and to make sufficient contribution to it. Sharing the same lines of thought, the NPE Review Committee 1990 recommended that “Pending ultimate switchover to the media of regional languages and Hindi for the purpose of higher education, English will continue to be the vital medium for the universities and colleges”. A review of the language Policy reveals the importance of regionalization of medium besides non-abolition of English medium at the higher education level. It had resulted in change from English to regional medium in almost 50 per cent of the universities, but certainly not in all, by the middle of the 1980s (Pattanayak, 1986).
Apart from the above stated foresight of the language policy-makers, English continues to dominate higher education as is evident from the following.
1. English as a medium of instructing teaching and examination: Out of a total of 120 Indian Universities listed in the University handbook (AIU, 1992) English continues as the medium of instruction in many universities.
- Eighty-four universities have English as a medium of teaching and examination at the B.A. level.
- English is the only medium of teaching and examination in 19 universities at the B.A. level.
- Eighty-nine universities have provision of teaching and examination through English medium.
- English remains the only medium of instruction and examination in 45 universities at the M.A. level.
2. English as a means of scientific communication: Indian languages are deficient in scientific and technical literature. It was perhaps due to this that the Education Commission 1964-66 had viewed the continuous requirement of a good knowledge of English for the students going in for study and research in engineering. In fact the problem is not with the acceptability and usability of the scientific and technical terms coined in regional languages, but with their viability and familiarity. Deenamma’s study (1979) reports the same which showed that misunderstanding in meaning was more with Malayalam words than with their English equivalents. According to the University Handbook (AIU, 1992) the position of English as a means of scientific communication is as follows.
- Out of a total of 93 universities offering M.Sc. courses, 67 have English as the only medium of instruction.
- All the 28 agricultural universities have the provision of teaching and examination in English. It is the only medium at the undergraduate level in 21 universities and at the postgraduate level in 26 universities.
- English continues to be the only mediumof teaching and examination in all the IITs and all the university faculties of engineering.
3. English as a Subject of Study: Language as a subject of study supplements the language as a medium of instruction as the competence in learning a language enables the individuals to use it effectively as a vehicle for the transmission of ideas. It is true in the case of English. As a subject of study, English has a unique distinction compared to its status as a medium of instruction. There is not a single universities or an under-graduate college in India which does not offer a course in English. Such a distinctioncannot be claimed by any other language in the country, not even Hindi (Mehrotra, 1994).
4. English as a Print Medium: As a print medium it predominates the Indian Distance Open Learning system which is growing at a relatively faster pace than the classroom system. Its importance may be realized from the fact that the production of university level books in modern Indian languages by the Government of India came to a standstill as in many States the books produced in regional languages were not sold.
It is in fact that the demand for teaching of non-language subjects through English medium is rising at an increasing pace at both school and higher education levels irrespective of official recognition. But early English education in English at the cost of the mother tongue which comes spontaneously from exposure to the environment creates a chasm between the child and his environment. This linguistic gulf, in turn, limits the child’s natural growth as is seen from the following.
- It curbs the creativity and innovativeness of the child.
- It weakens the child’s attitude towards his studies and generates hostility towards school leading to illiteracy and drop-outs.
- It creates imbalance between the child and the immediate environment in which he grows up leading to social deprivation.
- It distorts self identity resulting in an identity crisis for the child.
On the contrary, an adequate command over the mother tongue at the earliest stage when the basic conceptualizing processes are being formed leads to cognitive fulfilment. Thus competence in the mother tongue and learning through it should be a prerequisite before learning a foreign language like English. It is, therefore, suggested that urgent steps be taken for implementing the mother tongue as the medium of instruction in the primary and secondary schools uniformly across the country. At the same time, English as a subject of study should not be neglected during schooling. Because of its status as a library language in the field of higher education (Education Commission, 1964-66) or as a link language (viewed by two prominent members of CABE Committee, 1992) it cannot be overloaded at any point of time. Even of late, the importance of English has been felt in Japan which privately offers English classes to Japanese and in Russia where English seems to be the most popular subject after the collapse of Soviet Russia.
Learning of non-language subjects (science, mathematics, etc.) through the English medium in Instructions of higher learning should not be restricted in any form once it has been successfully replaced by regional media during schooling. Teaching through English at this stage leads to cognitive enhancement and thus becomes a strength as by this time the student normally has a competent knowledge of the mother tongue and his processes of concept formation normally reach a considerable degree of maturity.
REFERENCES
- ASSOCIATION OF INDIAN UNIVERSITIES, 1992. University Handbook, New Delhi, AIU.
- DEENAMMA, K.V. 1979. Verbal Barriers in Classroom Communication. Unpublished doctoral thesis in education, Kerela University.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1968. Education Policy 1968. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1986. National Policy on Education 1986. Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1986. Programme of Action 1986. Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1990. Report of the National Policy on Education Review Committee.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1992. Report of the CABE Committee on Policy.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 1993. Report of the National Advisory Committee.
- GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. Report of the Education Commission (1964-66). Ministry of Education, New Delhi.
- PATTANAYAK, D.P. 1986. Language Education-A Trend Report. In M.B. Buch (ed.), Third Survey of Research in Education. New Delhi, NCERT, p. 579.
- RAM GOPAL. 1966. Lingustic Affairs of India. New Delhi, Asia Publishing House, p. 132.
The 15:60 formula seeks to provide faciliteies for teaching through the medium of the mother tongue at the secondary stage where there is a minimum of 15 students in a class or 60 in a school as a whole.
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