Challenges facing education in 21 century

While countries around the world focus on the improvement of science and mathematics teaching and learning, one of the primary concerns seems to be the quality of education in schools and increasing the employability prospects of young people.

With this in mind, British Council India, in partnership with NCERT and Unesco, organised a global policy dialogue in the Capital on January 9 and 10. The event, 'Science and Mathematics Education in Schools - The Way Forward,' through interactions and discussions, aims to enrich learning environment in schools and help young people develop skills and knowledge to succeed in a 21century globalised world.

Senior policy level officials, education sector experts and practitioners from different countries, discussed and deliberated upon issues of widening the scope of science and mathematics education, supporting future-ready learning of science and mathematics and motivating and empowering young people to succeed in science and mathematics.

As to the challenges of teaching science and mathematics, Annette Smith, CEO, Association of Science Education, said that they need to be addressed at government and policy level, at national level and in individual classrooms. Good practices must be followed to ensure that teaching and learning becomes enjoyable for both the teacher and student.

At the classroom level, students must engage with questions, be aware of what they are learning and what is expected of them. They must be involved in learning that is inclusive, added Smith. In fact, she reiterated, it is imperative that teachers are equipped with right skills and training.

At the Imperial College London, for instance , professors hold classes for school teachers to help them expand their knowledge-base. "We also have a Reach Out Lab for school children. In this lab, school students come for free, spend time and learn about science from PG students and professors. This way, we reach out to schools, which may not have good provisions ," said Sir Keith O'Nions , Rector, Imperial College London.

Speakers included Shigeru Aoyagi, director of Unesco Office in New Delhi, and Parvin Sinclair, director, NCERT, among others.

Institutes can deny admission on disciplinary grounds: HC

An educational institute is "well within" its right to deny admission to a successful candidate if his presence adversely affects discipline, the Delhi high court has ruled.

"The right of an educational institution to either admit or deny admission is beyond dispute and no student has got a right to compel an institution that he should be admitted," a bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice R S Endlaw noted while dismissing a plea by a former Jamia Millia Islamia student against denial of admission.

The bench also said a selected student is entitled to admission, but "equally, it is the solemn responsibility on the part of the university to consider the past conduct of the student even if such student was ranked for the admission.

"If admission of the appellant is not conducive for good administration of the university and if it affects the discipline among other students, it would be well within its right to refuse admission," it said, pointing out that "responsibility" of an institute is to not only impart education but also to "inculcate" discipline.

Hamidur Rehman had filed a plea in HC that he was "arbitrarily" denied admission in M A (Persian) by JMI for academic session 2012-14, because he wanted to restore democracy in the form of student elections. Rehman said he ranked 21 in the test, held for admission for total 30 seats, but the university admitted only 20 students to deny him admission.

But the HC dismissed the appeal giving credence to reports from "heads of each of the departments, which stated that the appellant was offensive and aggressive against the university".

While an educational institution can't deny admission to such of those students who would be entitled to be admitted on the basis of ranking, the court said, but added that "equally, we are also not oblivious of the importance of discipline among students. Universities today have striven to ensure principled conduct for admission of students and the transition to higher education. The code of conduct is amongst the necessary elements which are known today for admission of any student in schools or universities".

Inconsistent attendance policy troubles DU students

Delhi University students writing the semester exams are now subject to a hopelessly inconsistent attendance policy across colleges. While some colleges are yet to compute attendance and are allowing everyone to write exams, another set has set the minimum attendance mark lower than the university-stipulated 66.6%. A third set of colleges say that as instructions giving principals power to decide have not been issued in writing, they will be following the 66.6% norm.

Kamala Nehru College brought the number of detainees down from 253 to 80 by lowering the minimum attendance mark to 50%. "Since the university has given principals the power to take decisions on their own, we decided, judiciously, to reduce it to 50% to accommodate as many as possible. The decision has been supported by the staff council and attendance committee," says Geetesh Nirban, spokesperson, KNC.

Its neighbour, Gargi College, is allowing everyone for now. But whether the set of students writing the exams now will be allowed to take the second or fourth semester exams will depend on their attendance. "The science practicals start very early. We are going to calculate it yearly and draw up the list of those short of attendance in March or April," says Gargi principal, Meera Ramachandran.

The situation is the same at Dyal Singh College. They will be sticking to 66.6% but are yet to compile the data. "Unless we get something in writing, I have no powers to alter things. We are now letting students write the exams and are simultaneously compiling the list. If we find students have fallen short we will have to stop them," says principal I S Bakshi.

In North Campus, Ramjas College has lowered the minimum attendance to 22%. "We wanted to allow as many students as possible," says principal, Rajendra Prasad. Khalsa College, too, is allowing all students to write. "We got the parents to submit undertakings and warned them that this concession will not be available from next time," says principal Jaswinder Singh.

The question teachers are asking is what will happen to the students who are detained. "Abroad, if you are detained for one semester, you write the exam in the next. What we have here is neither annual nor semester and in this hybrid system you waste a year. But next year there will be a four-year system in place," observes Sanam Khanna who teaches English at KNC.

Moreover, the new exam policies have, apparently, left students "frazzled". "The first page, where the students are required to fill in details, has changed a lot. They have introduced many more parameters and new roll-number formats. Students were frazzled as they weren't informed in advance and were filling it wrong. It's a good system but they sent three-four page instructions for invigilators on the morning of the exam. The adhocism is monumentally foolish," says a teacher.

Reform in education will be back on agenda: Shashi

Observing that India's education policy has remained out of sync with the time, Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor Monday called for reforms in the sector, critical to the country's growth needs. 

"We will work towards putting our reform agenda back on track," Tharoor told a higher education summit here, adding that as India aims to grow at 8.2 to 8.5 percent, the country needs to invest in education and help improve the quality of education. 

The minister said there has been no significant improvement in terms of quality education delivery. The issues of "skill gaps, skill shortages and unemployable graduates still persist". 

Referring to IITs and IIMs, he said: "These are still islands in a sea of mediocrity." 

Also, even though India with 621 universities and 33,500 colleges has one of the largest network of higher education institutes across the world and second in terms of student enrolment, its gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 18.8 per cent in 2011 is still less than the world average of 26 per cent. 

Global experiences indicate a positive correlation between GER and economic growth in the country and point to the need for a minimum of 30 percent to sustain economic growth. 

Tharoor said that while countries in the Middle East and China are wooing foreign universities to set up campuses in their countries, "India turned away many academic suitors who have come calling in recent years". 

Bills relating to higher education reforms such as the Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011 and the Foreign Educational Institutions (Regulation of Entry and Operations) Bill, 2010 are awaiting Parliament's nod. 

The minister said companies are entering the higher education space in the "guise of training". 

"Our University system simply is not producing well educated graduates to meet the needs of Indian companies today." 

He said there has to be a sharp improvement in the quality and quantity of institutions of higher education to match global standards. 

There is a proposal to establish 50 centres for research in frontier areas of science, design innovation centres, innovation centres in different universities and also research parts of the IITs and other technical institutions. 

"If finally established, it would transform the research environment in our country," he added. 

Tharoor also stressed the need for public-private partnership to meet the deficiency in public funding. 

India spends 1.1 percent of its gross domestic product, while South Korea spends 2.4 percent and the US 3.1 percent.