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Who\’s who in Chinese politics
Are You An \’Education Survivor\’?
Or maybe not.
Conduct a group discussion with people (friends, colleagues, family members), around their school days. You will find a mix of smiles, frowns and giggles — and the frowns will usually be about their experiences inside the classroom. Almost everyone has a story of how they were wrongly punished or discriminated against or didn\’t receive their just dues for something or the other. Around half the people will recall the oppression they felt at different times — examinations, punishment being handed out, the subject/s they could make neither head nor tail of, the quiet acceptance by their families that they would be mediocre and their own realization that they would not be \’good enough\’ in a number of things.
Cut to the present, and many of them (now quite successful in life) will also be saying : \”Why did we learn all those things? And even what I studied in college, what am I doing with it now?\”
These are the symptoms of the \’education survivor\’. Are you one of them? Are there really as many of them around as my dire prediction indicates? Is it only our tendency to wallow in self-pity? Or just the usual, superficial user-critique of education? Finally, is school education really something like a dreadful disease (or at least a dreadful experience) which leaves behind \’survivors\’?
From \’Teacher Condemnation\’ to \’System Condemnation\’?
People still continue to condemn the teacher and hold him responsible for all the ills in education. However, with the proliferation of so many \’reports\’ on education all around, there is now a great sense of intolerance towards the education system itself. The belief seems to be that not only government teachers and schools but the government education system itself is condemnable. Among NGOs, academics, commentators, researchers and intellectuals the general notion seems to be gathering steam that everything and everyone in the government system is the problem!
But what is a system if not the people in it, the way they work and the frame within which they work? From that point of view, I have to say that some of the finest people I\’ve come across are \’system\’ people. Every year I get the chance to work with thousands of teachers who I see putting in 12-14 hour days when others from outside the system (e.g. NGOs) fade away after only 8 hrs of input. This is not to say everything is OK with the system or the policies or the people – it\’s just point out that a black and white view doesn\’t help. And that just as it is not possible to change a teacher while condemning him, it is not likely to be possible to improve a system while condemning it!
The Tsunami We Don\’t Always See
- Establish the minimum conditions that must obtain. These are well laid out in the RTE (Right to Education) and its rules. Raise this issue wherever you can, and directly with the school or education authorities.
- Encourage and support the community and the school management committees (SMCs) drawn from among the community to become more active. You can help in setting them up, in record keeping, in setting the agenda, in follow up, in helping ensure that teachers take them seriously and that they in turn don\’t take an adversarial position vis-à-vis teachers. You can use your position to ensure that the educational agenda is not hijacked by the money-making or power-gaining agenda.
- Model the kind of behaviour you want from teachers
- Share practical steps they can take in their classes, especially in terms of activity-based teaching (see the many entries in this blog for support)
- Encourage teachers to be innovative, support them. If they ask questions, don\’t be dismissive (pass on the questions here if you can answer them!)
What Do We Actually \’Celebrate\’ In Our Schools?
Anna\’s is NOT a movement for change
- Dalits will not face discrimination anywhere; people will stop believing in caste and elections will be around issues, not social groups. Unborn girls will not be killed, dowry will go, sexual harassment will vanish, the notion of \’minority\’ will not need to be discussed, equality and equity will be established.
- People will start working harder, with greater commitment, be much more innovative, and therefore the economy will shoot up. Private enterprise will no more be required to shore up government efforts.
- We will stop exploiting environmental resources in a dangerous manner, all power and energy related problems will be solved, petrol will become cheaper, our sources of water will not be polluted any more and global warming will come to a halt (at least in India).
- All children will start attending school and learning well; teachers will transform into good teachers, all government schools will become great schools, and India\’s learning standards will be among the highest in the world. In sports too we will emerge as a world power.
- Inflation will not affect us any more, the price of food and other essentials will come down, no matter what happens elsewhere in the world.
- Health and nutrition levels will go up greatly, diseases of the poor (water-borne ones or those caused by malnutrition, for instance) will be vanquished.
- Poor governance will vanish – in the absence of bribes, officials will become competent, start taking good decisions, stop representing power groups, start listening to people and actually working for their betterment.
King\’s College London

King\’s College London

King\’s College London

INDIA\’S BEST ARCHITECTURE COLLEGES 2019 EduINDEX Ranking
1. Department of Architecture and Planning, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
2. Sir J J College of Architecture
3. Department of Architecture, Birla Institute of Technology Mesra
4. Faculty of Architecture, Manipal Institute of Technology
5. Faculty of Architecture & Ekistics, Jamia Millia Islamia
6. School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal
7. School of Planning And Architecture, University of Mysore
8. Sushant School of Art and Architecture
9. School of Planning & Architecture Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University
10. BMS College of Architecture
11. R V College of Architecture
12. Amity Institute of Planning and Architecture
13. Aayojan School of Architecture
14. School of Architecture IPS Academy Indore
15. The Department of Architecture, Town and Regional Planning, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology Shibpur
16. AAERT & SSB Faculty of Architecture, Sarvajanik College of Engineering & Technology
17. Faculty of Architecture & Planning, Integral University
18. Department of Architecture, Sathyabama Institute of Science & Technology (Deemed To Be University)
19. Rizvi College of Architecture
20. Amity School of Architecture and Planning
21. Axis Institute of Architecture
22. Guwahati College of Architecture
23. Priyadarshini Institute of Architecture & Design Studies
24. MBS School of Planning and Architecture
25. Institute of Design Education & Architectural Studies
St. Xavier\’s College
St. Xavier\’s College

St. Xavier\’s College
St. Xavier\’s College

St. Joseph\’s College
St. Joseph\’s College

Women\’s Christian College
Women\’s Christian College



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