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| EDUCATION TRIBUNE |
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Ad hocism in education
Meeting children’s needs
Segregation in US schools on the rise: report
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Ad hocism in education
All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. —Aristotle Much
has been said and written about the vital significance of education in shaping the destiny of a country or society. Undoubtedly, the crucial role played by good education in our life cannot be
overemphasised.
Successive central as well as state governments in the country have been reiterating their resolve to ensure the provision of quality education for all. The University Grants Commission (UGC), an apex body of the Government of India, has envisaged a national system of education in its education policy formulated in 1986. Under the system, there is a provision for a Central Advisory Board of Education as well as state and district-level boards to review educational development, determine the changes required to improve the system and monitor the implementation thereof.
However, no well-defined education policy seems to be in place at the grassroots level. In the absence of a tangible policy, sheer ad hocism rules the roost in the realm of education. Lack of vision and political interference can be termed the major factors responsible for the stunted growth of our educational institutions. What the policy makers need to understand is that though ample funds and other resources are required for educational progress, these cannot substitute futuristic vision and focused approach. This, unfortunately, is deliberately overlooked by the political persons in power who want to have “their own men” in all key positions. The post of Vice-Chancellor has become a political one, with academic merit and administrative acumen not remaining the only deciding criteria for selecting a candidate.
Moreover, after taking over as a Vice-Chancellor, a fresh incumbent has neither any established policy, nor programme to follow. He solely depends upon his own intellect to make decisions of far-reaching consequences. After his term is over, a new person assumes charge of the university and tries to run it as per his/her own planning. Thanks to the lack of a state or central policy, the enormous funds and resources are left at the disposal of a single person. To make the matters worse, there is little coordination with the authorities of other universities regarding matters of policy planning. This, at times, leads to duplicity of academic programmes and wastage of public money. For instance, if there are four universities in a state and all introduce study programmes in a given upcoming discipline, it will defeat the very purpose. Instead, specific academic fields should be identified for each university, which should be distinct from others. The universities can then develop centres of excellence in the specified disciplines. This will ensure optimum utilisation of resources and produce quality professionals as per the emerging requirements. A similar situation prevails in the state department of education. Higher education commissioners, secretaries and directors of higher education and technical education, etc., are appointed by the state government. They try to run the system according to their own policy (read whims) for a brief while.
Then, they are shifted to other departments and new bureaucrats take their place. In the process, even well-meaning, honest and hard-working officers are frequently shunted out. Plus, the officers are also required to watch the interests of their political bosses. Thus, an efficient and effective pattern fails to develop. “There is no perspective planning as far as higher education is concerned, as a result of which our youth become the ultimate sufferers. There should be some initiative on part of the authorities concerned to formulate a policy for future, and it is high time for a move like that,” observes Prof B. K. Kuthiala, Director, Institute of Mass Communication and Media Technology at Kurukshetra University. Nonetheless, it is also regrettable that the associations of teachers, who are perpetually demanding higher pay-scales, better promotional prospects, increased allowances and other financial benefits, have seldom sought a policy on education in the larger interest of the students as well as society.
Also, there is hardly any pressure group or voluntary body of academicians which can monitor the level of education and advise the authorities concerned about specific measures for improving the same. Instead of leaving everything to the government, some capable and socially-oriented educationists should come forward and take the initiative.
The policy-makers should also encourage such persons or groups to suggest ways and means to improve the system. After all, it is an issue which concerns all of us and needs to be addressed earnestly.
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Meeting children’s needs THE phenomenon of child-adult relationship is of fundamental significance for the civilisational advance in the world. It was Maria Montessori, the world famous philosopher of children education, first confronted this important factor of our social life in the educational perspective. She elaborated her view that human mind at every stage of its biological evolution develops in its own spontaneity. Wherever a young mind feels that he is deprived of free growth, he gets immersed in tensions. It is, therefore, necessary that for a rational and positive growth of the talents in young minds, the adults give proper attention to the needs of children. Any discord that appears in the child-adult relationship should be resolved at the preliminary stage. Montessori's views were not in conversant with the fascist ideology developed by Croce and Bento Mussolini, so she had to leave Italy and later worked in Europe, America and India. Authoritarianism in family, neighbourhood, state and civil society checks the rational growth of the young mind. The child in reality is a 'social entity.' He is the citizen of tomorrow who needs delicate independent attention free of any authoritarian force. Montessori calls child "the other pole of humanity." Philosophically, the child-adult relationship first came in the focus of great Greek philosopher Plato who said, "Do not teach children to learn by force and harshness but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." Educational institutions should develop a particular environment, where children can develop their natural talents without forceful authority but with mature guidance. It is, therefore, necessary that home, school and neighbourhood should grasp this fact of child-adult relationship in its totality. This will bring in the adults an attitude of recognition of the personality of the child and he would no longer be left at the dictates of elders. Montessori feels that "child is a forgotten citizen" and he in fact needs to be placed at the centre of social relations, not at the peripheries. It is pertinent for the managements and high titans of our school education to give priority to the problems of the child-adult relationship through education and learning. Teachers, parents and children should form an eternal triangle to tackle the problem with knowledge, affection and talent. The curiosity of the child needs proper care and attention, so that he responses to the school and the family with respect. Love, discipline and respect are ingrained in the geniuses of individuals and if tackled in the spirit of freedom, these can develop into strong intellect and emotive affections. The basic fabrics of a school are not its building, decorative rooms, lush green grounds but the students and teachers who form the foundation of future citizens of a country. Teachers should be efficient and democratic in their behaviour and remain responsive both inside and outside of the classroom. The government and school managements should also give priority to human factor over material profitability. The child-adult relationship taken in real pedagogic and humanist perspective would be a step to develop fine citizenry of a global world. This will be a tribute to education philosophers like Plato, Montessori, Mahatma Gandhi and
Krishnamurthi.
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Segregation in US schools on the rise: report
ATLANTA: Public schools in the United States are becoming more racially segregated and the trend is likely to accelerate because of a Supreme Court decision in June, according to report published recently.
The rise in segregation threatens the quality of education received by non-white students, who now make up 43 per cent of the total US student body, said the report by the Civil Rights Project of the University of California.
Many segregated schools struggle to attract teachers and administrators who are highly qualified, do not offer good preparation for college and fail to graduate more than half their students. The Supreme Court in its June ruling forbade most existing voluntary local efforts to integrate schools in a decision favored by the Bush administration despite warnings from academics that it would compound educational inequality. “The country risks becoming a nation where most of the new non-white majority of young people will be attending separate and inferior schools and educators will be forbidden to take any direct action likely to bring down the color line,” the report said. “Resegregation ... is continuing to grow in all parts of the country for both African Americans and Latinos and is accelerating the most rapidly in the only region that had been highly desegregated—the South,” it said. The trend damages the prospects for non-white students and will likely have a negative effect on the US economy, according to the report by one of the leading US research centres on issues of civil rights and racial inequality.
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Campus Notes IBM-Daksh, a Gurgaon-based company, will conduct a joint campus placement programme for all the colleges of Punjab at Guru Nanak Dev University on September 7. Dr Rajneesh Arora, Director, Placement, said the students of the 2008 batch of B.A., B.Sc., B.Com and B.B.A. would be eligible for this placement programme to be held at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Bhawan of the university at 10.00 a.m. He said besides interview, a pre-placement, one-to-one group discussion and written test would also be held. The result of the selected candidates would be declared on the same day. He said the interested students could send their names for registration through Placement Officer of their respective institution at placement.gndu@gmail.com under the subject, ‘List for IBM-Daksh.’ He said the registration fee would be Rs 100 per student.
Private candidates appearing for B.A. Part-I, II, III and M.A./M.Sc (mathematics) Part-I and II examinations of Guru Nanak Dev University, scheduled to be held in April, 2008, will have to submit their enrolment forms along with the prescribed admission forms, said GNDU Registrar, Dr R. S. Bawa in a press note here. Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak The Department of English and Foreign Languages of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) will organise an international conference on "New Urges in New Literatures in English" on September 5 and 6. The Head, Department of English and Convener of the International Conference, Prof S. P. S. Dahiya, informed that the MDU Vice-Chancellor, Prof R. S. Dhankar, would inaugurate the conference. A noted scholar and former Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, Prof Bhim.S. Dahiya, will deliver the keynote address. Prof Abhay Maurya, Vice-Chancellor, University of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, will preside over the inaugural session. Prof S. B. Shukla, president, WASLE & IASLE, will introduce the thrust areas of the conference in the inaugural session, while Prof Philip Zitowitz, Meiji University, Tokyo, will throw light on the aims and objectives of the association. This two-day international conference will hold session (s) on post-modernism, feminism, black literature, home and identity, sub-altern and diasporic literature, Indian literature and post-colonial literature, etc. Nearly 100 delegates, including 15 from abroad, are likely to take part in this conference. This conference will be inaugurated in the DDE conference hall of MDU at 10.30 a.m. on September 5. — Contributed by P. K. Jaiswar and Sunit
Dhawan
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Deadline Column 108 (01 September, ‘07) Armed Forces Indian Navy Sports Control Board, 7th Floor, Chanakya Bhavan, Integrated Headquarters, MoD (Navy), New Delhi 110021
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