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The Underbelly of Tradition: Teachers’ Day

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Let us explore a lesser-known tale of the
plagiarism controversy surrounding Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the man whose
birthday is celebrated as Teachers’ Day.

Before being ordained as the second
President of the Republic of India, Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a scholar
whose expertise on comparative religion
and philosophy was espoused with
extensive research and studies.
His academic career, which started as
an Assistant Professor at Presidency
College in 1911, allowed him to make
several disciples at various academic
stages of his life. When he eventually
became the President of India in 1962,
some of his students went to meet him
to seek permission to celebrate his
birthday on 5th September, which he
politely declined and rather asked them
to celebrate Teachers’ Day on that day.
And ever since then, 5th September is
celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India.
However, there is a controversial aspect
of his life that is not discussed very often.
It was an infamous case of literacy piracy
that blotted Radhakrishnan’s reputation
in the late 1920s.
In January 1929, Mr. Jadunath Sinha, one
of his students and a brilliant lecturer at
Meerut College, accused Radhakrishnan
of extensively plagiarising from the first
two parts of his thesis titled “Indian
Philosophy of Perception”. Mr. Sinha had
completed his master’s from Calcutta
University in 1917, and had then applied
for the prestigious Premchand Roychand
Studentship in 1922, for which he had
to submit his thesis in instalments. He
submitted the first and second parts in
1922 and 1923, respectively, and the
remaining installments by 1925. Dr.
Radhakrishnan was appointed as the
examiner for Sinha’s thesis, and had to
read the second volume, and the other
subsequent volumes of the thesis.
Professor Sinha revealed that though
Radhakrishnan’s book Indian Philosophy
Volume II was published in 1927, he
noticed the plagiarism in Radhakrishnan’s
book from his thesis only in November
1928. Two months later, Jadunath Sinha
vented out these allegations through
the magazine- Modern Review. In
the subsequent months, the matter
worsened for Radhakrishnan as another
book by him, titled The Vedanta
according to Sankara and Ramanujan was
accused to have paragraphs plagiarised
from Mr. Sinha’s thesis. Mr. Sinha wrote
three consecutive letters in the February,
March, and April editions of Modern
Review inhibiting his accusations.
In August 1929, Professor Sinha sued Dr.
Radhakrishnan in the Calcutta High Court
for the charge of copyright infringement
of his original works, claiming INR
20,000 as damages. In September,
Radhakrishnan counter-sued him for
defamation demanding INR one lakh.
Jadunath Sinha was a revered professor
and initially managed to get sympathy
as well as support from fellow Bengali
professors. They were convinced of
the plagiarism, but subsequently
refused to stand as a witness for him
in the court. On the other hand, Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was a relatively
powerful figure at that time, too. He
was brought to Calcutta University by
the eminent academician Professor
Ashutosh Mukherjee, whose son and
the founder of Jan Sangh, Mr. Shyama
Prashad Mukharjee was a dear friend of
Dr. Radhakrishnan. He forced Professor
Sinha to settle the matter out of court
and, owing to the pressure, he finally
succumbed.
Power and politics play an essential role
in academia. The recent English syllabus
controversy proves that academics is
not free of powerful political influences.
The story of Mr. Jadunath Sinha and Dr.
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan is symbolic of
this power-play in academics. It makes
us wonder if the traditions we follow
need to be reviewed and analysed for the
power dynamics they bring to life, over
and over again.

Feature Image Credits: Round Table India

Priyanshu
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Arts & Culture

The Eco-Feminist Village of Piplantri

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In Rajasthan, a state often characterised by low sex ratio and an arid climate, the villagers of Piplantri in Rajsamand have resorted to planting 111 trees with the birth of every girl child to battle female foeticide and climate issues.

In Piplantri, whenever a girl child was born, the family pushed a hard, jagged grain into her mouth to cause infection and ensure her death. Shyam Lal Paliwal never understood this practice.He had always loved his daughter. So when Sarpanch Shyam Lal Paliwal’s 16-year old daughter Kiran died in 2006, he planted a burflower tree in her remembrance and vowed that no one would mourn the birth of a baby-girl in Piplantri anymore. Instead, it would be celebrated with the planting of trees.

Before 2005, Piplantri had been a drought-prone area. Shyam Lal recalls that once in 2005, the drought had been so bad that the government were forced to send water trains to the village. But it all ended with Kiran’s tree and Shyam Lal’s vision.

Alongside planting 111 trees, whenever a girl child is born in Piplantri, donations are collected so that INR 31,000 can be saved and put aside, so that with investment, there is a sum to match a potential dowry, allowing the families to become financially independent and in turn, be able to send their daughters to school, not marry them before they turn 18, and care for the planted trees as well. Along with this, getting inspiration from his wife, Shyam Lal also helped establish an aloe vera business in the village. After training, women can make and market aloe vera gel, juice and pickle, and some earn up to INR 6,000 a month.  The Sarpanch has also started a rainwater harvesting plant in the village.

Aloe Vera gel made by the women of Piplantri village. image Credits: Lifegate
Aloe Vera gel made by the women of Piplantri village.
image Credits: Lifegate

The government of Rajasthan, which has been shamed with a concerning sex ratio for years, decided to introduce a yojana (scheme) inspired by Paliwal’s work. Under the policy, the family receives INR 2,500 on her birth and the same amount on her first birthday. This is doubled to INR 5,000 if she finishes class five and class eight. When girls complete their senior secondary education i.e. class 12th, they get INR 35,000, making an overall total of  INR 50,000.

Piplantri has become an inspiration to various villages in rural India and holds itself up to be an important symbol of not only women empowerment, but also sustainable development in India.

Feature Image Credits: Procaffenation

Shreya Juyal

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DUB Speak

Should our schools be more like our colleges?

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Schools and colleges are vastly different in many aspects, each with their own functions and purposes. Yet, could schools be better off in some way by imitating the institutions of higher education?

One of the most glaring contrasts between school and college that one experiences after stepping foot in the latter is the access to vast, almost limitless, freedom associated with it. Certain rules and regulations – hostel curfews and the like – notwithstanding, college majorly outshines school in terms of what a student can or can not do. From classes to clothing and attendance to activities and the rest, students are given numerous opportunities to experiment, explore and experience.

The mere agency that students have of visiting the stacked college libraries at their convenience or of listening to eminent speakers at some seminar is no small feat compared to the strict timetables and mechanical workings of a school. Consider how these resources can be used to develop oneself and you have a treasure trove of knowledge and learning, accessible almost entirely at will. Contrasting this with the fixed schedules, homework and mostly bookish education of school classrooms brings forth a rather grim picture.

This is not to say that schools don’t have a functional use or a practical purpose. It makes sense for a school to follow fixed daily timetables to instil qualities of punctuality in students, or to prescribe some homework so that students keep up with their studies, especially in their junior classes. But on the whole these features tend to become restrictive in nature, curbing creativity and freedom to no small extent and making students work within a closely regulated system.

Psychologist Peter Gray writes in Psychology Today, “Children hate school because in school they are not free. Joyful learning requires freedom”. In a separate article on the same platform, he further writes, “Children’s education is children’s responsibility, not ours. Only they can do it. The more we try to control it, the more we interfere”.

It’s common to watch children learn a multitude of skills and tasks simply by playing and experimenting. In many of the world’s most unique and innovative schools, like the Steve Jobs School in Amsterdam or the Green School in Bali, students are encouraged to choose what they want to learn and when in a model that stresses experiential learning.

However, the point of this article is not how teaching methods can be modernised but how schools can be made more liberal on a whole, most importantly in higher classes, say, from class ninth or tenth onwards. This would work out in three ways.

One, school students should be given greater freedom to choose how they want to attend classes. A more open timetable, which gives them the choice to experiment and alternate between classes on the one hand and library, club activities or workshops on the other will not only open up multifaceted opportunities of learning but also give the agency and responsibility of handling their own matters into the hands of the students. An argument can be made that students would become careless and stop attending classes in such a system. This comes from a highly paternalistic notion of how students should behave and the assumption that they can’t figure out what’s good for them. As long as this assumption exists, we won’t give agency and responsibility to students. Sure, not everyone would make the best use of this system. But even for that, the accountability would exist with the students – something that’s essential for an adult.

Two, more seminars, interactive sessions and discussions on academic topics or social issues by eminent speakers would not only expose students to important questions but also provide for a more holistic beyond-the-book education.

Third and perhaps most importantly, schools should be more political. This doesn’t mean that we need an ABVP or an NSUI in schools, but that a culture of democratic protests and discussions should be fostered. None of us has gone through school without facing a situation where we wanted to raise our voice, make some reasonable demands or show solidarity for a cause. Yet, what stops us is the fear of authoritative action. The threat of a suspension or a letter home is enough to deter dissent. Buttressed by feeble claims that students shouldn’t be engaged in politics and focus only on studies, schools are able to get away with unfair and sometimes frivolous rules and regulations. What is being envisioned here is not active politics per se, but the expression of dissent in a democratic manner, giving students an avenue to experience how authority, resistance and engagement work, for these are inescapable realities of life.

The preliminary step for all this is to make teacher-student hierarchies more equitable and balanced, such that students are not seen as subordinates who have to be kept under constant paternal guidance but active and equal players in the learning process, while teachers are not seen as commanding figures but coaches and team leaders who simply aid in the said process. At the core of this vision lies the freedom that Gray talks about.

“College environment is more flexible, there students are expected to take charge of their own education. Therefore they need to be mentally stable in order to make use of the flexibility and various opportunities available to them… (qualities) which they should have developed in the protective school environment”, says Ms Piya Narang, a teacher or History at Delhi’s Birla Vidya Niketan school.

Our opinion is that schools can foster better- prepared students by not keeping them sheltered but by exposing them to the one quality humans heavily desire – the state of being free.

Image credits – Glasbergen

Prateek Pankaj
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Campus Central

Dr. Pratibha Jolly, Principal, Miranda House Retires

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Dr. Pratibha Jolly, the celebrated Principal of Miranda House, Delhi University, retired on 28th February, 2019. Let’s take a look at her contributions to the college in the past 14 years as the Principal.

Dr. Pratibha Jolly has been the Principal of Miranda House since 2005. She is an alumna of the college, having pursued B.Sc. Honours in Physics and M.Sc. from 1970- 1975. After gaining a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics from the University of Delhi (DU) in 1980, she went on to work in the areas of physics education research and curriculum development at the tertiary level. She was a faculty at Miranda House (1980-1988) before she moved to the Department of Physics and Astrophysics at DU as a UGC Research Scientist (1988-2002). She served as the Principal at Acharya Narendra Dev College (2002-2005) before moving back to Miranda House. Dr. Jolly, in her vibrant tenure, has brought several positive changes to the college.

One of her major contributions is making Miranda a disabled-friendly institution. Through her continuous efforts, Miranda House now has the Amba Dalmia centre within its library for the visually challenged students, and it also has computers that read out the text. There’s also an enabling unit called Lakshita. ‘Digital Vision’ is an app introduced in her tenure, installed in the phones of differently-abled students and is used at the time of admissions.  This app scans QR codes (which can be found outside every room) and gives directions/number of steps to be taken to reach a particular place. There are a number of ramps across the college. Braille books in the library and a Braille notice board are also available. There are scanners, e-book readers, voice recorders, and a Braille embosser that converts printed text to embossed Braille dots for easy reading. All these developments are feathers in Dr. Jolly’s cap for inclusive development of her college. Dr. Pratibha Jolly will surely be missed for all her good work at Miranda House.

Feature Image Credits: Mahamedha Nagar

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

(With inputs from DU Beat and Miranda House)

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The Educational Refugees of Kashmir

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As many in the country target a community in hatred, read the account of being marginalised and misunderstood in the country’s capital.

It is easy to protest when there are people to answer your slogans. While in Kashmir, I participated in some of the street protests. I protested when my friends got killed and blinded by the ‘non-lethal’ pellet guns. I knew the risks of participating in such gatherings; death, an injury, or a life full of misery. However, I had made peace with such possibilities under the belief that protesting was indispensable to a democracy. I had concluded that this equanimity was justified.

After shifting to Delhi four years ago, I found myself in a different situation. I came across people who knew little to nothing about the Kashmir conflict, and people who thought they knew everything. The latter was more difficult to deal with. Their primary source of knowledge about Kashmir was Bollywood movies and biased news media. I had two options- one, stay quiet and the other was to make them understand what the conflict is all about. I chose the latter.

As a Kashmiri studying in a premier Indian university, I have witnessed the cognitive dissonance of the supposedly intellectual lot of the country. Being a student of journalism, I cannot run away from these discussions. But it has been a daunting struggle to balance my safety and will to speak the truth. I can recall an event of my early days at college when a police officer was baffled to see Urdu on my Aadhar card. To quench his astonishing curiosity, I amicably mentioned that this is how Aadhar cards are in Kashmir. However, I had amplified his suspicion. “Kashmir se hai, phir toh acche se bag check karva” is what he said. Ignorance offers complete impunity to the perpetrators of intolerance.

Repeated shutdowns and curfews forced me to migrate. Delhi was not my first choice. However, I couldn’t get my passport on time because of the ‘thorough’ and slow verification process that only Kashmiris undergo. The conflict followed me to Delhi. I realised that no matter how quiet or non-opinionated I become, I will be attacked for who I am. My survival is a protest in itself. I and various Kashmiri students like me are the educational refugees who have made a decision to leave their homes for an education. Many Kashmiri students, in the past, have been charged with sedition for unjustified reasons. As Kashmiris, our each move is scrutinised, and each action is seen as for or against the state. We brave numerous odds to get an education but then it is our comrades back home who face the worst.

The recent attack in Pulwama unleashed the bigoted ‘reactionary violence’ on our community. A wave of suspensions and xenophobic attacks against Kashmiri students followed. Kashmiris like me who live in various Indian states for a decent education are being attacked on the pretext of supporting the militants in Kashmir. There have been repeated calls for violence against Kashmiris on social media and no action has been taken against the culprits. As a student who has been bearing the brunt of this conflict and the hate that it accompanies, I want peace more than anyone else does but this ‘blood for blood’ attitude will always result in more violence. We must not let this hate consume more blood.

In the end, we are just normal students with our own dreams to achieve. But we cannot afford to let our guard down at a time when our identity and our rights are being trampled upon. A life of normalcy is a distant dream for us but hope for a better future is what keeps us going.

“Hope is a weapon. Survival is victory.” –Dunkirk

Feature Image Courtesy: Kashmir Reader

Maknoon Wani

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Beyond the Obvious of Delhi University Colleges

Should We Only Vote for Educated Representatives?

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The elections are here and it’s time to vote! But the representatives we choose should be educated or not? Is it an elitist, exclusionary view to believe that our leaders should be qualified/conventionally educated?

The 2019 Lok Sabha elections are around the corner and young adults who’ve entered universities and colleges are going to vote for the first time. It’s exciting when you think about it and a little scary too. You’re now an adult who can take decisions for the country, to choose representatives that talk and discuss your ideas and interests in public spaces, who don’t make false promises, who actually work to lead the society towards the growth, upliftment and development. But time and again, debate has arisen around the issue whether the people who choose to stand for elections should possess basic minimum educational qualifications or not.

Let’s talk about why this view is incorrect. Education is a privilege in a country like India. It’s regressive to bar a bunch of people from contesting elections because they aren’t privileged enough to qualify. Educational restrictions are basically code for class, caste & gender exclusions. Women and Dalits were worst affected by it.

There is no evidence to demonstrate that people with a formal education can do a better job as elected representatives than those without. For example- Meena Behen, the first woman sarpanch from a village in Gujarat, in the district Vyara, heads an all-women panchayat board. In a patriarchal society, where women were never allowed outside their houses, not even allowed to talk in front of men, Meena dared to bring about change and succeeded. Gaining confidence and leadership skills while running a self-help group (helped by World Vision India), Meena worked hard to empower the women of her village while improving basic infrastructure like roads, hospitals and schools.

Formal education has no necessary connection with the qualities required for good and competent political and administrative leadership. We live in a democracy, and at the heart of our democracy is the concept of representation: voters decide who will best represent their interests, and elect them to legislative bodies accordingly. Therefore, when you say that formally uneducated should be barred from contesting elections, what you’re effectively saying is that you don’t trust the voters to decide who will best represent their interests.

Now, you may argue that there is a distinction between the right to vote and the right to stand for election, and that nobody is taking away the right to vote. However, they’re the two sides of the same coin. If you erect entry barriers to contesting, you are effectively curtailing i.e. the right to vote, by selecting the pool of people from whom the voters can decide. It is a restriction on voting, just that it’s done indirectly. Such laws are discriminatory. They discriminate on lines of gender and caste, because those who have been deprived of access/opportunities to education are inevitably the most vulnerable members of society

It’s not the peoples’ fault that they were unable to get a formal education. Deprivation is function of social discrimination, not individual character flaws. It has no tangible effect on the quality of decision-making, it is counter to the fundamental logic of democracy, and that it is discriminatory.

Do not forget that there is a long history of denying, curtailing and interfering with the democratic process because the people in power believe that other people are incapable of using the vote in a “fitting manner.” This was the logic of the British regime that imposed property qualifications on the vote, tried to impose a “wifehood” qualification, and all kinds of restrictions. When our Constitution was being framed, some of the members of the Assembly wanted to restrict the franchise, because they feared giving it to a vast number of “illiterate Indians.” Fortunately, they were overruled, and a great leap of faith was taken. This leap of faith was to transform India into a full-blooded democracy, and not a hollow shell of a democracy. This means that, at the end of the day, as a democracy we should respect the autonomy and decision-making capacity of the voter.

 

Image Credits: The Better India

Disha Saxena

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(With inputs from The Better India)

 

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Beyond the Obvious of Delhi University Colleges

National Education Day

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“Education imparted by heart can bring revolution in the society.”-Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad

National Education Day of India is celebrated on 11 November every year. It is an annual observance in India to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first education minister of India, who served from 15 August 1947 until 2 February 1958. His real name was Abul Kalam Ghulam Muhiyuddin and was known as a brilliant orator. He firmly believed in universal primary education, free and compulsory education for all children up to the age of 14, vocational training and technical education.

The celebration of the day started in 2008 by the Ministry of Human Resource and Development. On 11 September 2008, MHRD announced, “The Ministry has decided to commemorate the birthday of this great son of India by recalling his contribution to the cause of education in India. November 11 every year, from 2008 onwards, will be celebrated as the National Education Day, without declaring it a holiday.”

Maulana Azad was a poet, philosopher, writer, educationist, politician, architect of the Indian education system and a specialist on Indian culture too. He was an accomplished scholar in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, English, Hindi, Bengali and a prolific debater. On his assuming charge of the Ministry, the very first public assertion he made was naturally about transforming the system of education as inherited from the British to suit our national requirements. In his very first official statement at the press conference held on February 18, 1947, Azad, on tone hand, criticised the then prevailing system as one shaped by non-nationals in the non-national interests, and, on the other, paid a tribute to its service to Indian people in general. In his statement of policy as the Education Minister before the Constituent Assembly on March 11, 1948, Azad defined the situation in the country that the popular Government was faced with on the eve of independence in the following words,“It entered into a heritage which was burdened with many encumbrances. There was no clear state to write with but a palimpsest on which was scrawled the marks of generations of scribes who had each his own mode and style.”

One can decipher four important objectives that Azad promoted as the new goals of education in post-independence India. Firstly, the democratisation of education with a view to liquidate mass illiteracy. Secondly, maintenance of educational standards. The next objective was broadening of educational outlook by making education compulsory till a certain age, and, lastly promotion of mutual understanding.

Union Education Ministry, under the guidance of Maulana Azad, adopted thoughtful and visionary ideas and translated those into reality. Different Committees and Commissions were committed in respect of different levels of education, for example, primary, secondary, university, etc. These bodies inspected the different wings, drew up new plans and tried to bring uniformity in national plans. University Commission, All India Council for Secondary Education, Secondary Education Commission, All India Council for Technical Education, Adult Education, Rural Higher Education, National Organisation for Basic Education, are some of the organizations that were established during his tenure. He is also responsible for establishing most of the major cultural and literary academies including the SangeetNatak Academy, Lalit Kala Academy,andSahityaAcademy.The first Indian Institute of Technology, Indian Institute of Science, School of Planning and Architecture, and the University Grants Commission were established under his tenure. Maulana Azad drew up a few projects for the advancement of Hindi and its acknowledgment as the national dialect. He propelled a few plans for physical training, improvement of the youths, social administration, education for the disabled, and so forth.

Jawaharlal Nehru described Maulana Azad as, “A very brave and gallant gentleman, a finished product of the culture that, in these days, pertains to few,”. He was posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna in 1922.

Feature Image Credits: Cultural India

Anoushka Sharma

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Campus Central

DU Attendance Menace

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Attendance criteria have never been one of the more appealing factors for college students, and Delhi University students are no strangers to the frustration this causes.

Delhi University mandates a minimum of 67% attendance for students to be eligible to appear for their semester exams. Adding to that, DU sets aside five per cent marks that are only awarded to students according to their attendance in a particular semester.

However, recently, it has been observed that colleges like Hansraj College have mailed cautionary letters to the homes of most attendance defaulters. In copies obtained by DU Beat, it was seen these letters consisted of the incorrect letterhead and grammatical errors. This makes one question the veracity of these letters that most students feel threatened by. Additionally, these letters are addressed to parents, and not students. This also makes one question the ethics of this, considering the fact that all students are adults and are held personally liable for all their actions (pertaining to activities in college) and usually, such an action is considered an invasion of one’s privacy.

It is a well-known fact that the attendance guidelines are used to incentivise students to maintain their attendance. Despite this, large numbers of students continuously fail to fulfil even the minimum requirement. This is because of a variety of reasons.

Many students live off campus, that adds to the travel time for most students who might not find the commute ‘worth it’. Classes are usually unevenly dispersed over slots from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., sometimes with 3-4 hour gaps in between. This is mostly due to logistical issues, pertaining to paucity of lecture halls or teachers. The advertisement section of the University of Delhi (DU) website stands proof of the number of vacancies in DU currently, right in the middle of the academic year.

Another reason for the same is extracurricular activities that occur during college hours. These are extremely important to cultivate your talents, increase your skill set, add to your CV, and develop your overall personality. Most colleges offer attendance benefits but these are only taken into consideration in case if students represent the college in competitions. Some colleges like Gargi College have different attendance requirements (34%) for students involved in cultural societies, while others don’t. This lack of transparency and these arbitrary changes in policy only add to students’ frustration.

Students working for society fests are often denied attendance benefits. Atishay Jain, a second-year student at Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC)  said, “I spent days preparing for our CMS (Computers and Mathematics Society) Fest, and only received benefits for 1 of the actual 3 days of the Fest. I think it becomes a trade-off between managing co-curricular and managing attendance. I choose the latter.” Adding to this, it is up to the discretion of teachers whether or not they want to consider benefits. Many teachers of SRCC refuse to do so.

Mostly, it is observed that the classes don’t offer any intrinsic knowledge to students, with monotonous course material and teaching methods. Last minute lecture cancellations, without substitutes, are also a proponent of apathy and absenteeism among students. Some colleges also fail to provide students with minimum lecture hours, as a recent Delhi High Court case highlights. In Jule 2018, the Delhi High Court slammed Delhi University for detaining a large number of law students on the ground of “lack of attendance” despite the varsity’s failure to conduct the requisite number of classes for the sixth and final semester from January to May. The judgment was passed on a batch of petitions filed by final-year law students of DU challenging the arbitrary manner in which students were detained by the university this year by citing lack of attendance.

It is another well-known fact that for most colleges, this debarring isn’t stringently followed through by the authorities themselves. The administration makes attendance defaulters sign an undertaking, a promissory note guaranteeing fulfilment of the required criteria in the immediately succeeding semester.

These factors add to students’ frustration and uncertainty, with growing apprehension to mandatory attendance requirements. This also makes one question the quality of lectures and tactics (or lack thereof) employed by colleges to make their students attend classes.

 

Feature Image Credits: Hans India

 

Nikita Bhatia

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World Student’s Day: An Ode to Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam

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‘Look at the sky. We are not alone. The whole universe is friendly to us and conspires only to give the best to those who dream and work.’ Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was one of the most loved Presidents of India. Due to his love for students and focus on promoting education, the United Nations declared his birthday,15th October  as ‘World Student’s Day’ in 2010.

Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam was a scientist who made India proud with his missile defence programme. His contributions to the Indian Space Research Organization are unforgettable. Numerous projects were headed by him such as the launch of the Rohini-1, Project Devil and Project Valiant, and, developing missiles.For his great contributions in improving the nuclear power of India, he is popularly known as the ‘Missile Man of India’. But his favourite job was teaching, and  that is how he wanted the world to remember him.Due to his love towards education, students, and his efforts in promoting education, United Nations declared his birthday as ‘World Student’s Day’ in 2010.

According to him, the modern ideology of being a well-learned person is to sharpen the merit of  a student. For any student, to rise from being average to an extraordinary one, only bookish knowledge was not sufficient, one should walk the paths of all branches, like theory, reading, understanding and its practical application. Dr.Kalam once said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken adults”. Dr.Kalam believed that if children were moulded in their attitudes, values, ideas and, ideals, a better world with a hope for tomorrow could be achieved. The best method of education was by imparting behavior patterns. Teachers and parents should behave in such a way as to instill values in children. Enlightened behavior of parents fosters a spiritual and moral atmosphere at home. According to Dr. Abdul Kalam, knowledge has many forms. Knowledge is acquired through education, information and experience. Ironically, all through school, we were taught to read, write, and speak but never to listen and even today, the situation is the similar. Dr. Abdul Kalam considered the children of India the future of the country and always showed his deep concern over the increasing atrocities being perpetrated against them.

His sudden demise on July 27, 2015 shocked the nation. Dr.Kalam passed away doing what he loved best i.e. teaching. Delivering a lecture to the students of Indian Institute of Management Shillong, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam fell down the stage suffering a stroke and passed away on the spot. The entire nation grieved his demise irrespective of caste, creed, location or religion.

Feature Image Credits: NDTV

Anoushka Sharma

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The Lack of Liberal Arts Universities in India

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In a country obsessed with engineering and medical degrees, the field of humanities takes a step back. There is a lack of liberal arts universities in the country when compared to government, and science and technology related institutions.

College admissions are a testing time for a student. The probability of getting in to  one’s preferred college/university is  very exhilarating, but the more important question is the choice of stream for  one’s further studies. Education in India for high school and further education is a division on ‘streams’. The predominant ones are science, commerce, and humanities. They are hierarchical in nature, as for an Indian parent the order places science at the top, followed by commerce, and humanities respectively.

The article brings to light a prominent issue in the Indian higher education scene: the lack of liberal arts universities. Liberal arts, within the past decade,  has been a good study option for a lot of students. In the western universities, there is a major focus on their course structures to cater to the liberal arts facilities. In comparison to their eastern counterparts like India and other Asian universities, liberal arts is still a blooming concept, majorly restricted to private universities.

Liberal arts as a concept was first designed by the  Greeks and Romans, as a form of essential education required for an active civic life. Basic subjects taught under it were grammar, rhetoric, logic, etc. However, in the modern curriculums, liberal arts has grown into a multitude of different subjects, with a promising prospect of varying skills and producing students as global citizens with a multi-dimensional knowledge of different subjects.

According to the most recent published data by University Grants Commission, on 25th September 2018, there are a total of 318 Private Universities established by the Acts of the Legislatures of different states. In India, some of the more prominent and well known,  liberal arts universities include universities like Ashoka University, O.P. Jindal global university, FLAME Pune, etc. While these universities offer attractive courses and world class infrastructure, the high fees is a major concern for  potential students. These universities also promise world class  standardised education, career prospects, and partnerships with big companies for future job prospects. A major attraction to these universities is the ease of adaptability one has, for pursuing post-graduation courses abroad, due to the similarity in course and work structure.

The study of humanities is still taken quite lightly. A lot of the state and  centre-run universities and colleges provide a basic Bachelor’s degree in the mainstream subjects of humanities. There  is neither much versatility in course selection, nor enough staff to ensure introduction of more flexible course structures. A major benefit which students adhere to a degree from these government run institutes is the feasibility of education. It is economical and reputed. A lot of students also wish to take it up as it helps in the preparation for their civil services aspirations later on. A popular career option is also   academia and politics.  While a major attraction today on a global level is MBA, with B-schools offering seats to over five lakh students every year according to a recent Assocham report,, a lot of students in these colleges are from engineering and commerce backgrounds.  .

A major factor for the lack of universities catering to liberal arts is also because of the demand-supply factor.. According to the general thinking of an Indian family till date  is that engineering and medical sciences remain the most highly opted courses in the country, as they are  considered “safe” options.. India, along with other Asian countries, is also the biggest supplier of IT and technically skilled labour in the world. Hence, when compared to other Asian countries, the state of Indian universities is almost the same. . Even though the liberal arts courses provide a number of career options the general desire  for high-paying jobs and a better standard of living is a driving force to opt for other courses. Luxury and sustenance is considered to be of a greater value than personal “passions” and hobby in a country like ours.

From the beginning, there has been good investment in institutes related to science and technology, and management like Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management etc., which are government backed and autonomous, and have been given international accreditation. Government sponsored liberal arts universities are fewer  in number, but very highly accredited. Universities like English and Foreign Languages University are known for delivering quality education in different foreign languages like Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, among many others, and in  areas such as Education, Literature, Linguistics, Interdisciplinary and Cultural Studies etc.

The need to have more liberal arts universities in India is a must, as they offer a great deal of flexibility in subject options.. There are options like deferred admissions, and students often take a gap year to   explore their courses more thoroughly, and also volunteer in their time off.

Liberal arts universities remain a popular  choice for the upper middle class and the more affluent sections of the society in the urban areas. A major reason why  this happens is because of soaring fees. While India is endowed to take its education sector in the same manner as in countries like the USA and the UK, where higher education is expensive, India should try to incentivise the private universities to bring more scholarship and financial aid opportunities. This is apart from the present situation wherein  the government itself caters to such services, albeit in a limited number.. Moreover, the government should also invest heavily in the improvement of higher education. . While public universities in India  do have a very vivid course structure  like that of foreign countries, the lack of options in courses is something which affects the career choices for students. A lot of the times, students compromise on their career options in lieu of studying and associating their profiles with a degree from a government institute.

The future state of affairs may seem bleak for now, but with so many different job portals opening up in every field, liberal arts may be taken seriously and more educational institutions would be put to practice for its sustenance.

 

Feature Image Credits:  Perkins Eastman

Avnika Chhikara

[email protected]

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