Indian Education System

INDIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

As it is always said that a good education system is what a country must possess for the proliferated growth in its economy.

India, before the British Raj, was one of the largest and most flourished economies of the world. It contributed around 25% of the world’s GDP during 3000 BC to 1700 AD. What happened then? A country which was known as the Golden Bird is now nowhere in the world’s economic panorama!

The rot allegedly started  in 1835 with Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay , member of the governing council of the East India Company .When he travelled India for the first time, he wrote a letter to the East India Company saying that:

"I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation."

This is what happened with our country centuries ago. From that point of time India’s education system is thriving to be efficient enough so that the country can have a stabilized growth rate. India has made progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population. India's improved education system is often cited as one of the main contributors to the economic rise of India.

 Despite growing investment in education, 25% of its population is still illiterate; only 15% of Indian students reach high school, and just 7%, of the 15% who make it to high school, graduate. As of 2008, India's post-secondary institutions offer only enough seats for 7% of India's college-age population, 25% of teaching positions nationwide are vacant, and 57% of college professors lack either a master's or PhD degree.

The course curriculum has not been revised from around 20 years. What I am studying in my Engineering is the same as what my parents used to study in their engineering.

Time has changed, technologies have changed, but the course is still the same. How would a person who is studying things which are no longer in practical use will be able to suffice in the world market.

As of 2011, there are 1522 degree-granting engineering colleges in India with an annual student intake of 582,000 plus 1,244 polytechnics with an annual intake of 265,000. However, these institutions face shortage of faculty and concerns have been raised over the quality of education.

Why would an educated person, who has invested lacs of rupees into his education, teach students just for some thousands; which is not at all enough in today’s scenario. The education imparters should not be under estimated by the government because they are the people who can help to provide quality education to the future citizens of India. Not only this but an educated citizen would vote rationally, an educated citizen would govern rationally and, most important of all, he will earn what he deserves.

Being the Changers, it is our duty to aware as many people as possible so that the government at least thinks upon the Education System if not change it.    

                                                                                  THE END

   Archit Karnawat                                                                                                   Jayati Sharma

    Vice – President                                                                                                    Member [CIM]

 

Communications and Information Management

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Children's Rights

                  
                      CHILDREN'S RIGHTS

    So frequently people hear the words "children's rights" and mistakenly think that this means kids get to stay up late, eat peanut butter - morning, noon and night -and pretty much have, do, and say whatever their little heart desires. But this is NOT what is meant by these words. Children's rights refers to the basic premise that children have a right to grow up in a safe, sane and stable environment. 

    The concept of children's rights does not mean that children are in control. It simply means that they have a right to NOT be abused - mentally or physically, and that they have a right to a stable, predictable home life. 

    Children have a right to be held in high esteem, as treasured members of society. Children have a right to be viewed as little "people" and NOT as "property" of their parents. It is time that we truly understand that children are our MOST valuable and vulnerable members, and are not mere possessions. If we continue to fail in our responsibilities to provide them with these basic rights, we do so at our own peril.

                                                        Safety

    First and foremost, children have a right not to be beaten and abused. It is incomprehensible to understand how anyone could look into the innocent eyes of a child; eyes that look to you for their sustenance and safety, and then beat them with leather belts or hurt them in other sick and twisted ways in the name of discipline. This is a betrayal of a trust that cannot be excused. We as a society have failed to champion this basic right for children. 

    Tragically, the courts continue to give children back to the parents who beat them. Children are being placed in harm's way again and again. Recently, in my colony a person was charged with child abuse for brutally beating his own off springs, yet, he continues to have custody of the child! When someone is charged with property theft, do we let them keep the goods until after their trial? No, we don't - the property in question is immediately impounded and placed into police storage. We don't let bank robbers keep the money until they are proven guilty, so why do we let child abusers keep children until proven guilty?

    Why don't we favor the side of safety, for children and their mothers, in cases of domestic violence? It only makes sense to take children away from the parent accused of abuse until the outcome of the trial, and to keep them away if guilt is determined. Yet, even after victims of domestic violence find the courage to leave the abuser, they will be forced to have continued contact with the abuser because of visitation rights. And sometimes this results in the mother being murdered in front of her children - all because of a court ordered visitation! Recently, a woman was murdered after pleading with the judge not to let the abusive ex-husband back into the family home for visitation. Her pleas went unheard. Unbelievably, this is not the first time this judge ordered a woman into her death, ignoring her pleas for safety, because of a father's "rights" to visitation. These are entirely unacceptable and clearly preventable deaths.

    Even after a father beats his children so severely that he ends up on a child abuse registry he will still have his "rights" to visitation intact. This is because children are seen as his property. There are even cases of known abusers winning full custody of the children. Judges, and social workers do try to put the child's rights to safety, peace and sanity foremost. They do not seem to care about putting children in-between highly conflicted parents and because of this they expose children to the rages of clearly abusive men.

                                                     Stability

    Psychologists tell us that stability is one of the most important factors in a child's development. A predictable environment helps them make sense of the world, and gives them the confidence to try new things. Single moms have special challenges in this regard. Despite their efforts to provide a stable home life, courts frequently upset any possibility for stability in a child's life because of their underlying philosophy that children are property to be divided up equally - like any other piece of property during the divorce or ANY relationship breakdown. This is true even for women who were never married to the father of their child. Few people believe that living arrangements, where children are bounced back and forth like ping-pong balls, are in the best interests of ANY child. Ask any adult if he/she would like to live one week here and one week there, or even alternate weekends in one place and then another. Without exception, everyone will answer with an emphatic "No". Apart from this , nowadays parents are very busy in their professional life and NOT spending quality time with their children only to earn more, so that they can give their children a luxurious life.

    Why do we think these things don't matter? They do. We know that children who are involved in extra curricular activities are much less likely to get into trouble with the law. I believe the reason for this is that they have established a life for themselves, rich in its interests and diversity. They have developed interests that keep them from getting into drugs or criminal activities. The kids that get into criminal activities are bored and have too much time on their hands.

                                                      Sanity 

    Child abuse and domestic violence should not be ignored when determining visitation and custody, yet far too frequently they are. The fact is that SOME children and their mothers NEED the sanity and safety that will only come with permanent separation. Biological fathers should not have any right to continue to tyrannize their children and the child's mother. Their rights should never exceed women and children's basic rights to safety, stability and sanity. For many single moms, living through this nightmare is a special kind of hell, and it most definitely makes it a struggle to find islands of happiness with their children.

     So I conclude by letting you to ponder upon- How many more kids will we let grow up without these basic rights? How many more must grow up in abusive homes or be forced to "visit" with an abuser? From years of research that it is the child's environment today which creates the messed up adults of tomorrow, adults who are unable to contribute to society. Tomorrow's criminals, drug addicts, welfare recipients, and murderers don't spring up from no where - they are created, - forged with repeated abuse today, and we have a responsibility to do our utmost to prevent this. Prevention helps us all.

                                                                                 THE END

                         Archit Karnawat                                                              Likhit Talegaonkar

                         Vice – President                                                                   Member [CIM]

  Communications and Information Management

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Reality TV

Reality Bites

          The youth is the civic group most enraptured by Reality TVs, as evidenced by the rise of Reality Shows on TV that specifically target the youth e.g. MTV Roadies, Axe your Ex, Emotional Atyachaar, Bindass Dadagiri etc. Whether these shows are scripted or not are debatable (although chances are they most probably are scripted) but their popularity is undisputable.

           The television offers an escape and instant satisfaction to people from the busy, mundane and more often than not, terrible lives they are living. To watch someone dance, cry, laugh, bitched about, yelled at, and fired on TV gives the viewer delectable ecstasy and stress release as the viewer probably lived through that very same episode at some point in their life, and are as such able to relate to the show. However the very same episode may illicit completely opposite reactions in two different viewers, as is most evident between Parents and Teenagers who view these shows together. For parents shows like Splitsvilla, MTV Roadies, Big Boss etc. are a symbol of moral decadence, scripted drama and ambitious youth vying for their 2 minutes of fame by disrobing one's dignity and self-respect, dismantling the trust of one's life-partner, throwing the time-tested values to the wind, shattering family, embarrassing and misguiding the young viewers with abominable deeds. For youth reality shows are a platform/medium for the common man to gain instant exposure, fame or money. They might also help in increasing one's confidence level and self-awareness, and depiction of the youth as foul-mouthed scheming delinquents is a mirror of modern society.

           No doubt, reality shows offer opportunities to the common man to gain instant exposure, fame or money. They might also help in increasing one's confidence level and self-awareness. But as studies show, it is basic human nature to revel in other people's miseries and misfortunes or SCHADENFREUDE, German loanword to the English language is formed by combining “Schaden” (adversity, harm) and “Freude” (joy), which literally means “To derive pleasure form other people’s misery”. It then becomes an addiction as the people tend to get caught up in other's lives on television and the daily events surrounding them while they forget about their own. It is akin to getting a “narcotic fix” or Alcohol, indulging in which sends the user into blissful ignorance and euphoric ecstasy.

          TV has found its way into even the most poor and illiterate households and right from lowest social strata of the society to the very highest; everyone is watching Big Boss, the socio circus that utilizes washed up celebs, loud foul-mouths, token beauties, sensationalism and voyeurism. Voyeurism is the dark side of a person's nature, buried deep in each and every person. Exposure to such events through reality shows can impact the psychological growth of a teenager, leading to the loss of sensitivity and the basic sense of humanity in him/her.

        "If the viewer does not like a show he/she has every freedom to turn off the channel", is the standard argument of defence most often used by the producers of reality shows, which appears to be analogous to presenting a child with a chocolate cake and giving him/her the option of eating it or leaving it. Profiteering off of the dark side of human nature which remain suppressed otherwise due to societal taboos has turned out to be a masterstroke in Media Programming. These reality shows along with Talent (Dance/Song) Shows have also introduced the element of voting, by which viewers can “influence” the outcome of the show in “a democratic and transparent manner” all the while making truckloads of cash for the networks by votes, TRP and Advertisers.

 

        Whether these shows serve any progressive purpose for humanity is anybody’s guess, considering that in 1995 when Govinda’s “Meri Pant bhi sexy” came onto the scene the Indian public sprang into an uproar in protest of the song for using the word “sexy”. Now thanks to constant use of the word in various media it no longer has the vulgar connotation that it once used to have and is as such used by everyone; anywhere and anytime. Maybe modern reality shows are a reflection of the rapidly evolving youth that attempt to keep the rest of the people up to speed with the development, or not.

 

              In either case as Shakespeare said, "There is a method in madness".  And for better or for worse it seems to be doing wonders for the producers and TV channels and who knows they may help alleviate other social taboos that exist in Indian society even including social practices of teleologicalism  (End justifies the means) in which Bitching, Betrayal and Backstabbing are acceptable means to achieving one’s objectives may it be Beg, Borrow or Steal.

THE END

Sumant Agnihotri

   Member [CIM]

  

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