 |
|
| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
|
Making the right choice
Quality takes a beating Campus
NoteS
|
|
|
Making the right choice He says despite the myriad job opportunities thrown up by the new economy, he finds that school and college students are not able to make the best of them simply because they are “not focussed and unaware of the opportunities that could come their way”. He says that to an extent he can understand the shortcomings in this regard among schoolchildren, but the same problem existed among more mature college students also. This is what prompted him to take up career counselling. Maj-Gen Saighal says the biggest problem with generation next is that neither their teachers nor parents are fully aware of the new avenues opening up every day for the young and the brilliant. “Most parents have a mindset that developed during their own times of education. The changes in the past few years have been so much that most parents have not kept themselves abreast of the new career options for their children. I think we must let our children discover their interests and skills and then some one should tell them, what options were in store for them”, he says. The armyman-turned-counsellor says career counselling is almost non-existent in the country barring the metros and some top schools and colleges. That makes his job all the more difficult and demanding. He said during his counselling sessions he found that the students were unaware that in India alone the new economy had created millions of job for the deserving students in almost 4000 fields hitherto unheard of. “Look at the tourism. It encompasses a whole bunch of important sectors like hospitality, civil aviation, maritime operations and other tourist related sectors. This sector alone will require around a million skilled people in the next few years when tourism traffic in India grows,” he said. Textiles are another field which is bound to grow at a stupendous rate. There has been a 350 per cent growth in the industry after the quota system was scrapped by the WTO three years ago. India will be a dominant player in this sector in the future. This sector is beckoning so many future engineers, designers and chemical analysts, he says. The workshop is generally of two hours duration divided into five modules: relationship between education and jobs, global demographic profile, national and global job profile, opportunities—traditional and emerging and the way ahead. As a soldier to the core, he wants the youth—both boys and girls—to consider a career in the armed forces. “Poor pay and difficult working conditions are a constraint, but these should be addressed soon. The armed forces remain a rewarding career for those who love adventure, responsibility and are patriots to the core,” he says. Maj-Gen Saighal thinks somehow we Indians prefer to work for an organisation rather than carve a niche for ourselves as an entrepreneur. “There are so many examples— Dhirubhai Ambani, Om Parkash Jindal and Ram Nath Goenka to name a few. They made empires from almost nothing. Our youth need to look at them and draw inspiration. There are hundreds of future Bill Gates among the young faces we see in the schools. All that is required is to give them proper guidance,” he concluded. |
|
|
Quality takes a beating THE Indian education system has had a reputation since the times of Taxila and Nalanda. The contemporary situation is demanding, as quality education is the basis of human resource of a country. Our nation has showed significant improvements at the school level over the past 60 years. Literacy rates have increased from 27.16 per cent for males (aged 5 and above) and just 8.86 per cent for females in 1951 to 78.85 per cent for males and 54.16 per cent for females in 2001. About two-thirds of India’s total population is literate, but the quality of elementary education remains low. We need to increase quality education with quantitative literacy rate. Quality education can be an individual’s or an institution’s achievement or enhancement of the education system by expansion of infrastructure, curriculum development, increase in skilled teachers and rise in gross enrolment ratio. The question is: why are teachers helpless in bringing about the qualitative standard expected. The rapid rise in population is one of the reasons, due to which the number of students in a classroom is more than required, lowering the standard of education. A teacher can bring about qualitative results when he or she is able to pay attention to individual students. Empirical researches and innovative developments in this field may be fruitful. One of the developments in this field is co-operative learning. It is a remedy to tackle the huge size of students in a classroom. It is an effective tool to meet the challenge and it demands good infrastructure. There is a need to increase the percentage of the national income spent on improving the level of education in the country. Unplanned growth of the private education sector has encouraged the mushrooming of educational institutions, resulting in worsening of the situation. With the rise of the workforce of teachers, capitalist relations have started emerging, affecting the dignity of teachers and the profession. Large investments in education cannot bring about qualitative rise in standard. Educationists should choose the right action plan. This may bring about a sense of accountability among teachers. Institutions should conduct orientation programmes for teachers to enable them to update knowledge. Teachers themselves affect the quality of education as many of them do not opt for this profession by choice. Such teachers cannot give their 100 per cent to the profession. The role of parents and guardians can never be ignored. Without their positive attitude and cooperation, teachers cannot lead students to their all-round development.
|
|
|
Maharshi Dayanand
University, Rohtak With a view to creating awareness about Fulbright fellowships, the Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) authorities and the United States Educational Foundation of India (USEFI) jointly organised an outreach programme on the university campus recently. Dr Sudarshan Dash, Indian Programme Manager, USEFI, assisted by Viji Ninan, Programme Associate, threw light on the USEFI and its activities as well as the entire gamut of Fulbright fellowships. A question and answer session followed the presentation. The MDU Director, Youth Welfare, Jagbir Rathee, conducted the programme. The Dean, Students' Welfare, Prof Rajbir Singh, spoke about the background of the outreach programme. The Dean, Academic Affaris, Prof Ishwar Singh, presided over the programme. The Dean, Faculty of Law, Prof K.P.S. Mehalwar, proposed the vote of thanks. B.Ed counselling schedule The Maharshi Dayanand University administration has announced the schedule for admission counselling of B.Ed (Distance Education; Session 2007-2009). The Director, Distance Education, Dr Nasib Singh Gill, said the admission counselling for Group I (Science) would be held on April 24. The candidates in all categories from Rank 1 to 121 have been called for counselling. The admission counselling for Group II (Arts) will be held on April 25 for general category students from Rank 1 to 118. Admission counselling for Group II (Arts) will be held on April 26. Candidates may contact the Directorate of Distance Education for detailed information regarding the admission-counselling schedule. Camps and adventure sports Maharshi Dayanand University will organise various camps and adventure sports programmes during May-June. A university spokesperson informed that a value-based spiritual course/camp would be organised for university girls from May 23 to May 30 at Kausani (Uttarakhand), while a trekking expedition would be organised at Narkanda in Himachal Pradesh from May 26 to June 2 for girls and from June 3 to June 10 for boys. The university will also organise youth leadership training camp for girls from June 2 to June 9 at Khaknal (Manali) and for boys from June 12 to June 19 at the same venue. A teacher-taught workshop for boys will be held from June 18 to June 25 at Khakhnal (Manali) and for girls from June 23 to June 30 at the same venue. These camps and adventure sports activities will be organised under the aegis of students and youth welfare office of the university. — Contributed by Sunit Dhawan |
AgricultureCentral
Institute of Fisheries Education, Fisheries University Road, 7,
Bungalows, Versova, Andheri (W), Mumbai
400061 (Mah)
(Deemed University ICAR)
|
||
| HOME PAGE |
|
After