Theme: Is education the greatest weapon for change in the developing world?

Theme sponsored by the David Rattray Memorial Trust

Stepping indoors from the searing subcontinental July heat, Kalavathi takes a seat in her office at the end of a long corridor decorated with scientific symbols and multiplication tables. “Today the children will talk about their ‘bhavishya'” she exclaims.

‘Bhavishya’ or future in Kannada, the dialect of the southern Indian state of Karnataka, is fervently on the minds of the children. Their voices; “miss, miss I want to become an engineer…miss, miss I want to work in computing,” resonate through the classrooms. With Bangalore’s burgeoning economy growing annually at an estimated 10.3% only a few miles away, these hopes and dreams have every chance for succeeding.

Images of poverty and riches side-by-side are synonymous with the emerging world; Bangalore is a microcosm for this. Connecting the divide does not have to be complex. Small is Beautiful is a collection of essays written by economist E.F Schumacher championing the role of empowering people in the development process. The right education can empower individuals to make the important marginal changes which lead to brighter futures.

Aptly named, the Hope Foundation School provides for around 400 children living in the surrounding slums of Tannery Road, on the outskirts of Bangalore. Driving down MG Road, the bustling commercial heart of the city, you pass billboards adorned with the face of Deepika Padukone, a Bollywood actress. Raised and educated in Bangalore, her image serves a reminder to the children of how dreams can be turned into reality. The reality is that education in any form – art, music, science or language – provides the seeds for opportunity.

As the head teacher, Kalavathi places an emphasis on creating a positive learning environment, “we now provide free mid-day meals for the children to encourage them to come to class.” The school was established by the Hope Foundation in 1993, and teaching began in a humble building. The success of the school’s smaller projects, including the mid-day meal scheme has attracted sponsorship. As a result a new building complex has been developed adjacent to the original site, allowing the school to expand its student base.

Every morning Mary, the deputy head teacher, completes registration and collects Rupees from the students. They are not paying for their education. They are learning the basics of financial literacy and savings. The school is also their bank. Kalavathi proceeds down the corridor and enters a classroom. The children arise and all but the clucking chickens in the school yard can be heard. “Namaskara” she says, and the children sit down. As an English-medium school children are taught English from an early age, which is vital for their future. English is the language of commerce in India. Despite having over 20 official languages, the 2001 census data showed that the number of Indian English-speakers was more than twice the UK’s population.

Furthermore, the Hope Foundation’s computer training programme in Bangalore has multiplied rapidly to extend to 8 centres in 2007, beginning with just 4 computers in 1998, and the student base has trebled. Those benefitting from this programme belong to the local community. This small classroom learning on the outskirts of Bangalore is reflective of the larger economic processes occurring in the city. Vast swathes of global technology businesses such as IBM, Google and Yahoo are attracted by the city’s English and computer savvy labour force. “The jobs are complex, and they change rapidly, so we need really smart people,” said Roy Gilbert, Google’s operations director in India for Fortune magazine in 2007. Many of the school’s children have a poor home life, torn apart by alcoholic fathers and a lack of regular income. This specialized education in computing and English is a perfect passport for them to obtain employment, and break the poverty cycle.

The second United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goal-to achieve universal primary education underlies the other goals, including combating hunger and gender inequality. Small changes to encourage greater female attendance in school can also reap rewards through female empowerment. Dr Dhondo Keshav Karve, an early 20th century social reformer on women’s welfare in India emphasized the phrase; “when you educate a woman, you educate a whole family.”

Half of the students at the Hope Foundation School are girls, and regular parent-teacher meetings have been put in place to ensure their mothers remain keen to keep their daughters in education. Girls in the local area would otherwise be coerced into being house maids or selling incense sticks in the slum. In the Indian state of Kerala, emphasis was placed on integrating women into the education process, such that the literacy rate for women was reported to have risen from 36 to 88 percent between 1951 and 2001. The UN estimates that Kerala now has the highest Human Development Index in India-higher than that of most developed countries. Small changes to what and who is taught can bring about positive changes for the future.

Change comes not from just being educated but by acting on what is taught. Kalavathi walks out of the main school building and onto the dusty school yard, advancing toward the school’s garden plot. This plot is a perfect symbol for how education works. It may appear quite literally ‘grass roots’, but it is in these chutes of knowledge, that the children and surrounding community can learn about food sustainability and develop a cost-effective way for feeding their families.At the 2010 Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, Barack Obama spoke of his time as a community organiser in Chicago, “real change comes from the bottom up, the grass roots, starting with the dreams and passions of individuals serving their communities.” By focusing on what is required, rather than implementing ‘one size fits all’ solutions we can improve the core issues.

As the school day draws to a close, Kalavathi gathers the children under the shade of the school’s iconic Flame tree or ‘Gulmohar’ in Hindi. Today the children have planted the small seeds of Hope. Tomorrow they can grow toward success, anchored firmly by their roots.

source: http://www.guardian.co.uk / Theme sponsored by the David Rattray Memorial Trust / Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

The Karnataka Education Board is all set for a virtual revamp. With the Karnataka Pre University Education Board giving its nod to the online admission process of PU Colleges, the era of online progression seems to have dawned upon the state. Following the success models of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and Chandhigarh, the Karnataka Examination Authority (KEA) has shed light on its plans of making CET counselling for seat allocation online.

The objective is to increase transparency and reduce hassles for students and parents. Online admission into PU colleges, which has already seen implementation with application forms available online, has been lauded by many as a preferred change. But will a similar fate await the proposed CET online counselling too?

The proposed process involves annual verification of documents and testimonials of students in helpline centres after the declaration of CET results; issue of an individual ID and password to each student through which the online portal can be accessed; entry of a student’s choices in terms of college, category, course and discipline. He can opt for more than one course too though he will be required to prioritise his options. For example, a student can enter options of engineering and medicine, but he must prioritise if he should enter engineering or medicine as his first option.

This will happen in three rounds, with a seven-day gap to exercise the available options, during which a student can either take admission, seek a better option or surrender his seat to apply in the next round of counselling. The surrendered and non-allocated seats will be pooled in for the next round of counselling. Seat allotments will begin with medical, followed by ISMH (Indian Systems of Medicine and Homeopathy), engineering and architecture.

Though the suggested process seems infallible, the big question is its practicability. Students across the state have their anxieties and confusions, which are leading to unfounded speculations.

Reflecting the concerns of many students, Anagha K, a student of Deeksha Integrated PU College (PCMB), who is awaiting her CET results, said: “The primary concern is the list of choices that one has to provide. A lot of thought must be put in, and several permutations and combinations must be done with regard to the priority list. If we go wrong in preparing this list, our future is at stake.”

Piyush Sharma, a student of Kumaran’s PU College (PCME) said: “There is uncertainty as we wouldn’t know whether or not we’re really in merit for a particular course in a particular college. The only source we have of finding out is the previous year’s seat matrix, which has its set of limitations”.

The FAQs on the website clarify doubts. But a lack of confidence in the ability of the process, apprehension owing to its first time and uncertainty of technical glitches have caused alarm and panic among students.

According to the website, a student can enter as many options as she likes. Also, she can change his options as many times, within the stipulated date.

Ameen Mudassar, career counsellor and director, CIGMA India, said that this kind of options list would result in a superficial demand for top colleges, for every student, irrespective of his merit, would want to try his luck at getting into the top colleges.

He said: “The KEA should roll out the process much in advance. They must ensure there is no deficiency in communication of the procedure to students. Infrastructure issues like the software, servers, etc should be taken care of.”

There seems to be unequivocal optimism over one aspect though. This step would solve the issue of seat blocking. Elaborating, Mudassar said: “Previously, a student could block seats in various institutions simultaneously. Such unclaimed seats would eventually become management seats, much to the disadvantage of meritorious students.”

The current proposal aims to solve this.

Another major concern is about students who are not fortunate enough to acquire computers or computers with internet facilities and those without the know-how of using them. A total of 6 lakh students appeared for the II PU exams this year, of which 1,83,093 were from rural areas. Of a total of 1.2 lakh students who appeared for CET this year, a major chunk was from the rural parts of the state. These students will be left in the lurch if the process of online counselling does not implement modalities for a horizontal inclusion of these factions. Helpline centres and kiosks for aiding such students are proposed.

The country has seen much of the education process shifting gears to go virtual. It is time saving, convenient and reduces spatial divide of many students. Exams like IIT- Humanities (IIT HSEE) and CAT have gone online. Though there were initial glitches, experience is honing them for the better. Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) and AIEEE counselling have also gone online, without many hiccups. Online processes are definitely a move forward, but proper and handy information, accessible communication and helplines putting in that extra effort for an inclusion of the disadvantaged student community and finally, but most importantly, ensuring a fail-proof technology and software are the ingredients that would make it an effective potion.

source: http://www.dnaindia.com / Home> Analysis> Report / by Pragati KB / Place: Bangalore / Agency: DNA / Monday, May 28th, 2012

Bangalore:

In recognition of the yeoman service to research and development by the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS), Dharwad – among the nation’s premier agriculture universities – was rewarded with a special `50-crore grant this budget.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee made the announcement in the Lok Sabha on Friday while presenting the 2012-13 budget. UAS Dharwad had won accolades few years ago when its scientists developed hybrid colour cotton varieties, in addition to their research on vegetable and cash crops.

Varsity Vice-Chancellor R R Hanchinal told Express that the special grant was a vindication of the university’s accomplishments in recent years. “He said that the grant will be utilised to set up a farmers’ knowledge centre and create infrastructure at the Krishi Mela site in the University.” The university has four colleges, 25 research stations, six extension education units, five Krishi Vigyan Kendras with and has its jurisdiction over 7 districts of northern Karnataka including Bagalkot, Bijapur, Dharwad, Belgaum, Gadag and Uttara Kannada. “The university which was established in 1986 has developed numerous varieties of high-yielding variants of cotton and other food crops,” he added. The university has also to its credit of being the first varsity to start a Krishi Community Radio Station on agriculture. The Krishi Mela, the annual agri-exhibition of the university, attracts lakhs of farmers.

source: http://www.ibnlive.in.com / South> Bangalore / The New Indian Express and Express News Service / March 17thy, 2012