Cut in funds: govt approach ill-founded
By Tejindarjit Kaur Gill and Surjit Singh Gill
The development of a country depends on the quality of its human resources and education serves as the most important tool for its development. If education is not provided according to the needs of individual and society, a country’s progress suffer.

Universities must have their own calendar
By Harbans Singh Rataul
THE frequent closure of university campuses has caused immense damage to our educational system. The impact of too many holidays on our educational system is becoming more evident with the passage of time.

No effort to lessen study-load
By T. Rajagopalan
SCHOOL pupils carrying heavy satchels on their backs trudge along unsafe roads, if they do not walk to the school and back, they travel in overloaded autorickshaws, vans, buses and vehicles of every possible description.

Steps to boost polytechnic education
NEW DELHI: Steps have been initiated to revamp polytechnic education in the country to give a major boost to training courses in over 1,000 such institutions.

Cut in funds: govt approach ill-founded
Not in step with welfare state concept
By Tejindarjit Kaur Gill and Surjit Singh Gill

The development of a country depends on the quality of its human resources and education serves as the most important tool for its development. If education is not provided according to the needs of individual and society, a country’s progress suffer. In this modern age of technology, every system in the world is undergoing transformation in view of globalisation, competition and market structures that make up the economic life of a country.

After Independence the government the age group of 6-14 but enrolment at the lower levels has increased manifold. Accommodating the growing population for higher studies has become a challenging task.

Recently drastic cuts have been imposed on grants for institutions of higher learning. The Government has asked these institutions to raise their own resources and be self supporting in the forthcoming years. The share of universities in the total Education sector plan nosedived from 25% in the Fourth-Five-Year-Plan to 12% in the seventh Plan. This approach of the government is illfounded. Investment in higher education is directly co-related to the level of social, economic and cultural development of a country.

As indicated by UNESCO, the average per student expense on higher education in absolute terms is 10 times lower in developing countries than in industrialised countries. It is worth mentioning that in India, inflation in institutions’ budget is mainly due to administrative rather than academic reasons.

Various measures have been suggested to raise the financial resources of institutions of higher learning to meet the economic crunch. Many suggested measures are surely helpful in raising a good amount of money, but these will contribute to the appearance of certain negative consequences also. Imposing of heavy tuition fee and privatisation of higher education as means to face the financial problem become a great barrier to the democratisation of higher education and encourage the appearance of an elitist system. As a result, economic status of a student will play a major role in his/her admission to on institution of higher education and academic aptitude will take the back seat.

In countries where the responsibility of higher education as a facilitator of human resource development is being shifted to the private sector, the expected effective contribution of the system to solve the financial problem has not yet tested been.

Reducing intake capacities of the system is also not desirable. It would be unwise and unethical to promote enrolment at lower levels. However, it should be kept in mind that while students with suitable aptitude are admitted for higher learning, others should be directed to opt for some vocation or trade after completion of secondary school education. Another measure that has already been implemented in some institutions is admission to NRIs at higher fee rates against special quota. India has achieved the status of the fourth largest reservoir of scientific and technical personnel. It can attract a good number of foreign students and good amount of money can be raised. But India is a country populated mainly by rural people and giving admission to NRIs at a higher fee means debarring poor and deserving Indian students from higher and technical education which is essential for the development of a country.

Similarly, a large of amount of resources are wasted through brain-drain. It is estimated that about Rs 4 lakh are spent by Indian Institutes of Technology to produce an engineering graduate. So what is the fun of allowing such a person to go abroad? What It is, therefore, suggested that graduates and post-graduates or the faculty members of institutions who go abroad should be allowed to go only if they contribute a fund to their alma mater or to their respective departments. Similarly, it should be mandatory for employers to contribute to the institution (s) which have trained their manpower.

In addition to this, sharing of consultancy fee by the faculty with the institution; commercialisation of available services like computers and press, selling of products/technology and linkage between industry and higher educational institutions could be modes of raising income. Renting out infrastructures like auditoriums and guesthouses could also be helpful. But it should not be at the cost of the academic atmosphere of the institution.

Imposing heavy public taxes has also been suggested. Such taxes can be directly linked to consumption of luxury items otherwise it would constitute a pressure on the lower strata. Instead, the government should frame a policy under which the amount donated to the educational institutions is fully exempted from income tax.

In a welfare state, providing education to the people is and should remain the responsibility of the government. Rather than imposing cuts on grants, the flow of funds to the higher education sector should be increased so that India comes on a par with developed countries.

Universities must have their own calendar
By Harbans Singh Rataul

THE frequent closure of university campuses has caused immense damage to our educational system. The impact of too many holidays on our educational system is becoming more evident with the passage of time. At present, our state and central universities do not have their own academic calendar i.e. holiday schedule for academic sessions. These universities in general follow the government pattern. Besides several holidays are declared without prior information under religious and political compulsions.

Since the universities follow all holidays declared by the government, their number becomes so large that it becomes difficult to pursue academic programmes effectively. It has been seen that in a working week, if Tuesday is a holiday, Monday, too will be observed by students as a holiday for an extended weekend. Likewise, if a holiday happens to fall on Thursday, some students and teachers absent themselves on Friday. Very often in certain weeks every alternate day is a holiday.y Sometimes during the week two or three holidays may fall continuously. Several such holiday combinations occur during the academic session. Under these situations, regularity in studies is interrupted and subject link broken.

As a number of working days are lost and it becomes difficult to cover the planned curriculum within the specified time, such a situation causes several academic problems. In universities where teachers are sole in charges of evaluation, they try to rush through the entire course, whereas the student’s endeavour is not to be examined for the left-out course. This is a sufficient cause to create a problem which usually results in student unrest and ultimately strikes.

In this situation, it is the student community that suffers as courses remain uncovered resulting in low academic standards. In universities where there is a semester system the problems assume still greater importance as the fixed number of lectures and practicals cannot be completed unless the semester is extended. The government declares holidays out of several compulsions and is not concerned about academic problems. It is governed only by religious and political considerations. Now it is up to the universities to see whether they need to follow the government pattern or develop their own holiday schedule to enable them to pursue their academic programmes effectively. It is Evident that the universities need to develop their own holiday schedule, irrespective of government holidays. This way the universities will be able to fulfil the requirement of minimum number of working days in a semester as recommended by the UGC and maintain good standards.

The universities may select a few important occasions when they can have a holiday and for other events they need to develop their own programmes suitable to the nature of occasion. The Department of History and Culture can be entrusted with the responsibility of preparing and organising the programme. On some occasions, eminent religious leaders/academicians and other learned persons can be invited to deliver talks to highlight the importance of the occasion which would benefit the teachers and students. In order to accomplish this, a-one-hour period must be earmarked at the end of the day’s teaching schedule for such a function.

No effort to lessen study-load
By T. Rajagopalan

SCHOOL pupils carrying heavy satchels on their backs trudge along unsafe roads, if they do not walk to the school and back, they travel in overloaded autorickshaws, vans, buses and vehicles of every possible description. Indeed, this was not the scene about four or five decades ago and people in their fifties and sixties recall that the number of books and notebooks they had to carry in their school days was manageable. Not only that, the teachers took a lively interest in their students. One feels sad that this type of relationship is not to be seen in the majority of educational institutions any longer.

Taking up the issue of the burden on the school-child. one would like to ask if this serious matter has not been raised at different fora-media, parliament and parents’ meetings with educational authorities. No doubt the matter has been cropping up with unfailing regularity during certain seasons. But what is regrettable is the fact that no sustained action has been taken so far to tackle the phenomenon.

The issue came to the fore in a startling fashion when eminent author R. K. Narayanan, then a member of the Rajya Sabha, raised it poignantly on the floor of the House some years ago. What followed was more or less according to expectations. The subject became a hot topic in the media for a few weeks and one could see evidence of knee-jerk reactions. All this led to the setting up of a National Advisory Committee with Prof Yash Pal as chairman by the Union Government. A comprehensive report called ‘learning without burden’ was the result and submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development ((MHRD)) in July, 1993. As is won’t with the government machinery, another panel to examine the feasibility of implementing the Yash Pal Committee recommendations was set up by the MHRD. This was headed by M. Chaturvedi of the MHRD.

A multiplicity of streams involved in school education all over the country have led to different syllabi, curricula, textbooks and examination patterns in different states. At the national level, only the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE) operate with a large number of schools coming under the aegis of the former compared to the latter.

It must be noted that the vast majority of schools in each state are affiliated to the respective state boards of education and these far outnumber those belonging to either the CBSE or the CISCE.

The CBSE curriculum being a trend-setter for the state boards had led to heavier study load for the pupils, argued the Yash Pal Committee which recommended that the “jurisdiction of the CBSE be restricted to Kendriya and Navodaya Vidyalayas and that other schools be affiliated to the respective state boards”.

What are the implications? Primarily, all private CBSE schools in the country would lose their special identity and ultimately the community would be the loser since diversity of choice for the parents would disappear.

It must be pointed out in this context that private CBSE schools have over the years gained a reputation for quality education and discipline which the majority of institutions under the control of the state boards cannot match. Thus, it came as not surprise that the Chaturvedi panel rejected the recommendation.

Another suggestion made by the Yash Pal Committee and a sound one at that, related to the provision of lockers for pupils to keep their study material safely. Only those books and notebooks required for study on a particular day according to the timetable need be carried by the pupils. This would reduce the satchel load considerably. In fact, the provision of lockers in schools is common in the West.

Unfortunately, this recommendation was shot down on the ground that in the Indian conditions where the majority of institutions lacked even pucca buildings, the provisions of individual lockers would be a luxury.

Thus, we find ourselves back to square one. Only the burden has been increasing with textbooks becoming bulkier and several new subjects getting into the curriculum. As a result, even children in the age group of nine to 12 are being made to attend coaching classes after school hours.

Steps to boost polytechnic education

NEW DELHI: Steps have been initiated to revamp polytechnic education in the country to give a major boost to training courses in over 1,000 such institutions.

“Continuous negligence and even social apathy have reduced polytechnics as a poorer brother of technical education,” according to AICTE Chairman S. Rame Gowda.

Polytechnic education has been neglected to such an extent that students ratio for engineering to polytechnic institutions was 1:1.7 while the ideal ratio should be 1:5.

To start with, the AICTE has identified 12 regional centres with at least 10 polytechnic institutes under each for achieving results “on a par” with degree-level courses vis-a-vis societal sensitivity, better employment and changed salary structure. “By the next academic year we hope to extend it countrywide”, says Mr Gowda.

Mr Gowda says the response from state government in the North-East and Bihar has been “hardly forthcoming”, thus making the council’s task difficult.

The AICTE, an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, was constituted in 1987 to revitalise and revamp technical education. — PTI

I’m keen on becoming a commercial artist. Could you tell me about the job prospects in this field?

Navneet Kaur, Delhi

Commercial Art, also called Applied Art or Graphic Design, has gained tremendous popularity in recent times. More specialised as compared to Fine Arts, the commercial artist works not just to satisfy his/her creative instincts but utilises creativity to satisfy the client’s requirements. This in turn calls for a keen awareness of consumer trends and current marketing strategies. It basically involves the application of various forms of art including photography and typography for a targeted commercial purpose.

A key component of Commercial Art, graphic design involves several related disciplines such as: Typography, Calligraphy, Printing Techniques, Photography, Illustration, Painting, Animation, Audio-Visual Techniques, Book Magazine and Advertising Design, Packaging, Computer Aided Design and Desk Top Publishing.

Since a graphic designer is a commercial artist who provides creative solutions for promotion of products, services or ideas through visual communication, working with print, pictures colour and patterns, will be the tools of your trade. The work can be truly varied: laying out text and pictures for books and magazines, advertisements, posters, sales brochures, stationery, packaging, POPs (point of purchase material), TV programmes, credit and title sequences of films, outdoor media like hoardings and kiosks, etc.

Although the traditional skills of the hand still remain highly prized, the computer has become an indispensable tool for today’s graphic designer. A word of caution though: not everyone can become a Graphic Designer. A keen aesthetic sense coupled with loads of creativity and imagination is needed. A good hand at sketching or art is a tremendous asset. Besides possessing the mandatory drawing skills, you need to be computer savvy as most of the work is now executed on sophisticated designing software.

Employment Opportunities: Commercial artists or graphic designers typically work with advertising agencies, newspapers, publishing houses, film production units, art studios, webpage design studios, teaching institutes and at exhibitions. In an ad agency, you will design ad layouts, brochures, labels, posters, etc. Having mastered the techniques, you can go on to become a visualiser in the art departments of independent design studios. You can work as a cartoonist or an illustrator for newspapers, magazines, children’s books, diaries, calendars, greeting cards, etc. Also, there is scope for designers on the Internet. The work involves designing web pages both in terms of illustration design and designing of the text.

In TV a graphic designer creates eye-catching special effects including animation with the help of computer graphics.

After gaining sufficient experience in the field, you also have the option of freelancing and eventually setting up your own design studio.

I am interested in joining the Territorial Army as an officer. Please guide.

Harbajan Singh, Patiala

All male Indian citizens and ex-service officers aged 18 to 42 years, who are graduates and gainfully employed besides being medically fit are eligible to join the Territorial Army Infantry as Officers.

On being commissioned, you will receive one month basic training in the first year,and 2 months training the subsequent year. Also a 75-days post commissioning training is given within the first two years.

As a TA officer you may be called out for military service for longer durations depending on the requirement.

The pay, allowances and other facilities are the same as that for regular army officers when called for training or military service. You can be promoted upto the level of Major by timescale on passing the required promotion exam. Promotion to Lt. Col., Col and Brigadier is on the basis of selection. Applications can be obtained from the Commander TA Group HQ of the Eastern, Western, Southern and Central Command respectively depending on where you are residing.

Maths is not my strong point. If I do BCom without Maths through correspondence, can I still enroll for professional courses such as CA, CS or MBA?

You could do a BCom (Pass) without Maths and still do your CA/CS alongside. Whether you do it through full-time study or through distance education is immaterial. While maths is not a statutory requirement for these professional courses, it is certainly an asset if taken at the graduation-level. For instance, the maths component of the MBA entrance test is fairly significant. Although knowledge of maths of Class XII-level is sufficient, speed in solving the large number of maths-related questions is of the essence. So even if you decide to drop maths, make sure you keep in touch with the subject and have your fundas absolutely clear. And if you were to seriously get down to revising your maths syllabus right from Class X upwards, you would realise that it’s not such a terrible subject after all.

You can also enrol for BCom (Hons) through correspondence in the first year and switch over to BCom (Pass) if you cannot manage it. All said and done, an Honours course is a more desirable option. So do give it a sincere try.

I am keen on doing graduation in history from IGNOU. Could you please tell me the admission criteria.

Reshma Bindra, Jalandhar

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) offers History as a course at the graduation level. Depending on your educational qualifications, you could choose from two modes of entry for graduation courses offered by IGNOU. For the 3½-year non-formal Open University Graduation Programmes you must be 20 years of age but need not possess any formal qualifications. You will be admitted only after passing the entrance test. The eligibility for the 3-year graduation programmes is a pass in Class XII.

What prospects does a course in Hotel Management offer?

Asha Chawla, Gurdaspur

A course in Hotel Management opens up job opportunities not only in the hotel industry but also outside it. Some of the other options being the related jobs in the railways, airlines, hospitals, motels, banks and other service industries where customer interface is at a premium, defence services and as an instructor at the various schools of Hotel Management.

There are ample opportunities for self employment for a person trained in hoteliering. If you have the requisite qualities — business acumen, initiative, drive, ability to take risks and most important, knowledge about hotels, then all you need is a project feasibility report and initial capital for investment. Your project could be a hotel, restaurant, bar, resort, mobile van kiosk or outdoor catering services.

There is also a growing demand for trained and experienced hotel professionals all over the world, particularly in the developing countries of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. So if you possess a restless spirit, an adventurous nature, an ability to adjust to new environments and to mix easily with people, then the world has many opportunities to offer you.

Several institutes offer courses in Hotel Management. The best recognised ones are the 19 Institutes of Hotel Management accredited to the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology, Library Avenue, Pusa, New Delhi 110012. Admission is through an entrance exam conducted in April. The advertisement appears in January. Eligibility is a 10+2 in any stream with 50% aggregate (45% for SC/ST candidates), and age to be below 22 yr.

Also, there are several excellent courses both at the degree and diploma levels offered by some of the leading Hotel Chains in the country like the Indian Hotels, Welcomgroup, Oberois, etc. You may find it impossible to combine a full-fledged course along with college. In which case it would be best to your graduation by correspondence instead.

For a comprehensive list of institutes and course details, you could refer to Careers in Hotel Management published by Vision Books, 24, Feroze Gandhi Road, Lajpat Nagar-III, New Delhi 110024.