School education in India expensive than university
(source:www.TimesofIndia.com)

Families in India have to spend more on primary school education of their children, making the fundamental right to basic education for the Indian poor a distant dream, according to a recent UNESCO report.

In contrast, university education, which typically helps the better off students, remains subsidised and costs just the half of the primary school spending.

"Households pay for more than one-quarter, 28 per cent, of the cost to send their children to primary and secondary school. This poses a big barrier for the children of poor families," the report 'Global Education Digest 2007', released by UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), said.

"Yet at the same time, households assume just 14 per cent of the costs for university education, which typically benefits better off students," it added.

Mapping latest education statistics from primary to tertiary levels in more than 200 countries, the reports focuses on the financing of education and provides a series of indicators to compare spending patterns across countries and levels of education.

The report stressed the need to monitor the balance between public and private expenditure.

"Systems that are overly reliant on private contributions, especially at the primary level of education, raise the risk of excluding students from poorer families," it warns.

Hi Folks,
India, has a demographic advantage over the fast ageing societies of Europe, North America and Japan with half of its population below 25 years of age. It is the youth who need to sustain the economic growth of this country.

Do you think the present education system, terribly infrastructure, low literacy rate and inadequacy of opportunities in higher education, will be able to shoulder this responsibility to sustain the economic growth? If not, what are the measures needed to be taken by policy makers to sustain the economic growth.

On another note, I would also want to know your views regarding the major showstoppers in the present policies of Ministry of Human Resource Department.

Education Reforms- I

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As we all know, India is soon going to be the only country with the maximum number of young people in the world. In this context, education takes on a special significance. The following reforms are desirable

1. More emphasis on vocational education. The purpose of education isnt just knowledge acquisition and growth, but also preparation for future life, evryone should be capable of earning their own bread, that is the basic key to empowerment of any section or calss of society

2. Child-centric and contextualised education at the pre-primary level- We realize how de-contextualisted our education has become. Eg. we teach rhymes like "polly put the kettle on" to rural children, they have never heard of a name called polly, they have no idea what a kettle is, and so on. Instead, nursery level and lower primary level education should be a very light,enjoyable and most importantly, undertsandable experience.

Also, teachers at that level are most important, there is provision for nursery teacher training, but its more of theory than actual practice. A special course in child psychology and in-service training for nursery teachers is most essential.

3. At the primary level, most important is reducing the workload. It's all right if they don't know all the world's history and geography and science and math by class 5 !!
Classes 6,7 and 8 are again repitive in nature. Curriculum needs to be streamlined some more. It gets very boring when kids learn the same things over and over again, and it is also a huge waste of time and resources.

Counselling should begin at this age itself, in the pre-adolescent-and-going-to-adolescence stage to prepare them for the future changes.

At a more general level, there needs to be more fund allocation at the primary level. Drinking water facilities, sanitation, mid-day meals etc. Mid-day meal system could do with a lot of improvement, instead of cooking in schools ( it is dangerous in one-room schools and even otheriwse with very small children around) nutritious, pre-packed food or fruit or eggs can be given. Regular inspection is needed about hygiene and working conditions while prepaption of mid-day meals.

At the secondary level, there should be separate vocational streams to choose from. CBSE has introduced a course in finance at class 11 level, it would another stream just like humanities, science and commerce. It a step in the right direction.

Ganesh Sir, i agree it is a healthy trend that teachers are offered jobs in rural areas, but the situation is still very dismal. There was a scheme, i dont know if it still exists, when a postman was made the temorray teacher for the viallges where there was no other option, and it seems to have worked. Teacher training needs some great overhaul, it has become outdated..In urban schools where compuetrs have made a foray for study of every subjects, students find it very funny when even the best-trained teachers (read coming from the best teacher-training colleges) try to teach them with a chart or roller blackboard , which i feel is one of the most outdated teaching aids for public schools, but the most uselful one for govt schools. A better trained tecaher should be able to use all kinds of teaching aids.

Most teachers posts are lying vacant in govt schools because of lack of funds. Govt schools in urban areas have computer rooms, but they are locked because computer teachers haven't been recruited. On the other hand, there are so many 'qualified' teachers, who have no real knowledge or training of their subjects, they are there just because a B.Ed degree is so easily available ..There has to be a stop on the number of private B.Ed colleges that are coming up...schools offer measly salaries to such teachers and the better trained may be left out because they refuse to accept anything lower than a govt scale..this is a kind of unhelthy competition that severely affects the quality of education.

Not just that, a teacher too is overburdened ( contrary to the popular perception that it is a "lighter' job), she has to think of so many new ways n schemes to burden the kids themselves, and that isnt easy! Jokes apart, she is delegated so many extra jobs that she has little time left for the preparation of the subject to be taught the next day, there is a latest thing in teacher recruitment where they almost make us sign a bond that we would not marry if we are unmarried ( atleast for 1-2 yrs), and if one is married, they cannot have a child for 1-2 yrs..if the job is to be taken. The teacher is not even free to teach as she likes, there is the imposed curriculum ( which is also sumtimes full of textual/factual errors) and the sword of finish-thesyllabus-before-its-too-late hanging over the head. All n all, it has to be realized that only a good teacher can bring out the best in students n is very essential to improving the quality of education.

A different approach; maybe at the macro level!-
In this context, it is apt to mention the infamous "vicious three" circle. Health, Poverty and Illiteracy(Education). Each one leads to the other. It is difficult to address anyone one of these without addressing the other two. If people are poor, they cannot afford good health. When health is bad how can they sit in the class room and get educated? Statistics reveal that an average Indian spends 45% of his income on food only. this means that he has lesser Money( when compared to his counterparts in US & European countries) to spend on entertainment and to pursue his intellectual growth. The same is the case with our government. It has less money to be spent on the "vicious three'.Educational cess is one important step in this direction which can improve the situation.
The educational system in the cities and towns is perfectly okay with private and aided instiutes which fill the lacunae. International degrees and schools have raised to the global standards at the primary level.
This is one aspect.
But, apart from all the problems being discussed, is it not a fact that some institutes have become centers for religious propagation and have a proselyting effect on the students???We reap what we sow. Nationality and community feeling should be instilled in today's children.A common ideology and patriotism is lacking.
As far the government schools in rural areas are concerned the government has come up with School Development and Monitoring committees(SDMCs). It is a very good step. But here again politics has crept in.Recently in Karnataka a Head Mistress committed suicide because she was constantly being harrassed(As being anti-dalit) by an SDMC head. So the problem continues...
And also the system of evaluation of students based on the type of answers they give in an examination has some limitations.The answers would be more or less similar. Why not assess a student by the kind or type of question he asks?...this would increase the scientific temparment.

Learning to juggle can change your brain

London: Learning to juggle leads to changes in the white matter of the brain, a study has shown. The Oxford University study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, appears to show connectivity has improved in parts of brain involved in movement-making in juggling. "We tend to think of the brain as being static, or even beginning to degenerate, once we reach adulthood," says lead researcher Heidi Johansen-Berg of Department of Clinical Neurology. "In fact we find the structure of the brain is ripe for change. We’ve shown that it is possible for the brain to condition its own wiring system to operate more efficiently." PTI

‘Self-learners’ creating university of online

Websites, Universities Offer Expert Material Free To Anyone, Anywhere

Few months ago Daniel Conn was scouting the internet wondering how and where he might obtain a degree. At 26, having skipped university when he left school, he was, as he puts it, "a bit unsure of my study skills".
By chance he discovered a website called Open Learn, an offshoot of the Open University (OU), which is in the vanguard of a new era of education. Shortcircuiting tuition fees and over-priced student flats, Open Learn offers expert material, accessible via the internet, free to anyone, anywhere.
Unlike traditional "distance learning" courses, you do not have to register and pay to receive course materials. You just click and pick from a vast array of subjects -say, an introductory course on life in the Palaeozoic era to one on the meaning and value of textiles in Ghana.
Although it is not designed to deliver a degree, it is a start. "I found the material to be very engaging and reassuring," said Conn, who tried units on IT and computing.
"I wanted to see how I would cope. I studied for about a month. I couldn’t put it down."
He was so encouraged that he signed up for a full OU degree course, which he started this month. "A week in and I don’t regret it," said Conn, who plans to study in the evenings and at weekends while continuing to work as an administrator at a garage in Brighton.
While Open Learn is a natural evolution for OU, what is striking is how some of the most prestigious universities in the world are moving in the same direction, making first-class educational resources available for free. This month You-Tube began carrying material from 45 universities in Europe and Israel on a strand it has dedicated to education.
"YouTube EDU is a global classroom where ... everyone can watch and engage with a range of videos that have been uploaded by some of the world’s great universities," said a spokeswoman.
Even more far-reaching, in many users’ eyes, is the light-speed expansion of iTunes U1—a sort of university in the sky hosted by the online music store. There you can find lectures by professors at Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and many others.
Among last week’s most popular downloads were lectures entitled Einstein’s ethics; your brain on jazz: neural substrates of spontaneous improvisation; and building a business: entrepreneurship and the ideal business plan.
In just a year of posting material on iTunes U, Oxford has seen well over 1m downloads of lectures or other academic works. "Podcasts that were scattered on the university’s departmental sites are now on iTunes," said Carolyne Culver, head of strategic communications at the university. "We are getting many more downloads."
Word is spreading fast as a glance at Twitter last Friday revealed. Tweeter drdav99 wrote: "just found out about iTunes U. this is incredible." Another tweeter, known as bfalke, claimed: "iTunes U may be one of the most amazing tools on the internet."
As governments struggle to fund traditional university places— and this weekend 170,000 UK students starting a new university year are still waiting for loans to come through—is the internet ready to open up the cloisters of academe?
At the very least, it is reinvigorating the idea of lifelong learning. If you have ever wondered who Euripedes was or where you might find a quark, you can now find a suitable lecture to listen to on your way to the office or sitting at home in front of your PC.
This time last year Marianne Talbot was embarking on a standard series of lectures on philosophy at Oxford University. Her words are still echoing around the world.
"It was a perfectly ordinary lecture I gave to an audience, but the university asked me if I’d mind if they recorded it and made a podcast," said Talbot last week. "The next thing I knew it had hit No1."Her talk, "A romp through the history of philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the present day," had topped the list of mostdownloaded items on iTunes U.

Children can be taught to imagine away pain: Study

Anew study in the US claims that children can learn to use their imagination to endure stomach pain, research shows.
A relaxation-type CD, asking children to imagine themselves in scenarios like floating on a cloud led to dramatic improvements in abdominal pain.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina and Duke University said the technique worked particularly well in children as they have such fertile imaginations. In this study, the children had 20 minute sessions of “guided imagery” — a technique which prompts the subject to imagine things which will reduce their discomfort, the BBC reported.
One example is letting a special shiny object melt into their hand and then placing their hand on the belly, spreading warmth and light from the hand inside the tummy to make a protective barrier inside that stops anything from irritating it.
Among kids who had used the CDs, 73.3% reported their abdominal pain was reduced by half or more by the end of the course compared with 26.7% in the standard care group. In twothirds, improvements were apparent six months later. AGENCIES

Monumental Asset

Focus on the tourism potential of heritage sites

The Union culture ministry has admitted that as many as 249 heritage sites in the country are being encroached upon. The violated sites include Sher Shah Suri’s tomb in Sasaram, Bihar, and Maratha king Shivaji’s three historic forts at Sindhudurg, Solapur and Raigad. In July last, a spokesperson of the ministry said that out of the 3,675 centrally protected monuments or sites, as many as 35 have simply vanished, because of “urbanisation, commercialisation and routine development work”.
World heritage sites in India are not being given the benefit of that status. Illegal occupation by squatters or commercial establishments is common within the circumscribed ‘no-trespassing’ zone radius of the monument. Monuments continue to be defaced by irresponsible visitors and locals. The world over, monuments are prime tourist attractions and the sites are sustained with revenue from visitor footfalls and merchandising. The local economy thrives on the activity generated by travellers who make the trip not just to gaze at a monument but to also experience whatever else the place has to offer. Should we miss out on all the benefits that can accrue to a heritage site and the region for lack of imagination and initiative?
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has its hands full, as it were, with documentation, research and plans of conservation. It lacks the imagination and resources to develop heritage sites into much more than ruined remnants of a dead past. The answer is to outsource work relating to maintenance and beautification, security and promotion. The ASI should consider converting as many heritage sites as possible into living monuments, housing visitor centres, libraries and museums, bringing the past alive and making daily maintenance a routine. Event managers and corporate sponsors can help promote and maintain ancient monuments with more imagination, arrange for merchandising souvenirs and boost the local economy by marketing the works of local artisans and craftspersons. A few heritage attractions like Khajuraho and Chidambaram have been able to sustain cultural festivals on their sites, drawing tourists and sponsors; there is no reason why this cannot be replicated in similar destinations across the country.
Ten per cent of employment in the country is generated by tourism that contributes more than 6 per cent of GDP. Tourism can boost the hospitality industry and its subsidiary feeder industries including transport and communication, food and entertainment. All this can be promoted by maintaining our heritage. Let’s not lose it.

Green hideaway in heart of Chennai

Rs 8Cr Project Coming Up At The Erstwhile Drive-In Restaurant Site On Cathedral Road

M Guansekaran TNN

Chennai: Amidst the city’s concrete jungle, a green hideaway, a veritable microcosm of multiple gardens—rainforest, rock garden, butterfly garden, a grove of palms, bamboo garden, fern house, herbal garden, gazebo and many more—will soon come up.
With the consultant, Rajendran Associates, submitting its detailed project report for the world class botanical garden at the 18-acre site near Anna flyover (where Woodlands Drive-In restaurant was located, and the premises opposite to it), the agricultural engineering department has invited tenders for the Rs 7.91 crore first phase work.
Soon after taking possession of the prime land, where the drive-in restaurant and the agri-horticultural society used to function, after a prolonged legal battle, chief minister M Karunanidhi has asked officials to establish a world class botanical garden and horticultural research centre. Agriculture minister Veerapandi S Arumugam said it had been decided not to lease or rent out the land. Director of horticulture B Chandra Mohan told The Times of India that the work would be executed at the eightacre site (the erstwhile Woodlands spot) in the first phase and was expected to be completed in a year. “We have decided not to cut any of the tall and old trees on the site and the park would be developed around the trees.
All the trees including 68 mast trees, 45 wild acacia, 10 nuna and 15 wild trees will be preserved and serve as live specimens to botany students, scientists and enthusiasts,” he said. The concept will be unique, entirely different from the upcoming Adyar Poonga or Marina beautification project. The tenders will be opened on November 4 but the ground work to establish the green canopy would begin after the outcome of the legal suit in the apex court. There will be a pathway beneath Cathedral Road to link the two wings and there would be no big buildings, sources said.
Explaining its recreation value, Chandra Mohan said the creation of a unique urban park, with a combination of scenic natural settings, scientific and practical education, training sites and recreational options, would add attract more visitors. Besides a children play area and food court, the park will have an amphitheatre and space to conduct flower show. Miniatures with exotic themes and names—aroma garden, Zen garden, topiary garden, water garden, maze park, herbal garden, rock garden and tree houses—will be other important features of the garden. It will have a greenhouse and a nursery inside the premises. The consultants suggest nearly 9,000 shrubs, 200 trees and 6,875 ground covers like lily, coconut palm, snow bush and helconia dwarf to be planted. As per the plan, the entire area will have water-harvesting facility and smaller water bodies too. “We are planning for tree walks, board walk (where delicate plants underneath) and rope walk,” Chandra Mohan said, adding that the project w o u l d e n a b l e p e o p l e t o s t u d y , u n d e r - s t a n d a n d enjoy nature.

Treating leucoderma

For first 3 months living on fruits and vegetables would change the blood chemistry. Watermelon restores the colour pigmentation of the skin and should be taken regularly, says Jyoti Gupta

Leucoderma is the result of decolouration of the skin on the top layer of the human body. To cure Leucoderma we must understand its cause, how and why it happens. Causes Eating without hunger Habitual overeating By having eaten fried foods over a long period Eating sugar made items : chocolates, sweets etc Drinking soft drinks, tea, coffee on a regular basis Lack of exercise etc Consequences Malfunctioning of the liver and pancreas Blood contamination due to accumulation and degeneration of faecal matter in the intestines Accumulation of toxins in the body Preventive Measures: Pranayam and Yoga on a daily basis For first 3 months living on fruits and vegetables would change the blood chemistry Water melon restores the colour pigmentation of the skin and should be taken regularly during the season Eat only freshly cooked food Water if thirsty, may be taken only after 3 hours of eating meals Conserve vital energy by eating only twice a day Occasional fasting on coconut water and fruits should be adopted. Liver would function better and produce the necessary enzymes Sadabahar and curry leaves can be helpful for blood purification and ultimately lead to better quality of skin Chickpeas should be eaten in sprouted or boiled form Aloe vera juice or gel which can be taken out from the leaves of the plant Ash gourd/Petha juice purifies blood Bitter gourd should be taken in a boiled state Turmeric in the vegetable form can restore back the natural immune system Amla juice to expel toxins from the body Banana stem juice to remove toxins from the body In the morning, sun bathing only within half an hour or 45 mins of the sunrise For air bath, expose the body in the morning to fresh air Gentle massage on and around the affected spots to allow better flow of blood through the skin

It is about giving, not getting

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has—Margaret Mead

Children are by nature very giving beings so it is extremely easy to foster that behaviour. They may not always share their toys with each other, but they have an innate ability to notice differences when it matters. However, I feel today’s generation is more of a Generation Me than earlier times.
There is a reason for this - an obsession with achievement passed from parents to children. Peer pressure and pop culture are the excuses that are used for undermining their children’s ‘‘moral foundations.’’
The parentchild relationship is at the centre of the development of all the most important moral qualities, including honesty, kindness, loyalty, generosity, a commitment to justice, the capacity to think through moral dilemmas and the ability to sacrifice for important principles.
Simple instances like reaching out to a lonely child or helping a less-privileged child is all that is required to change a child’s attitude. Giving is not about donating largesse on one’s birthday or feeding the less fortunate. It starts on a much smaller scale and only requires a change in perception and attitude. Yet rather than fostering those qualities by encouraging children to help those on the economic or social margins, we adults seem to send a message that individual self-absorption is absolutely normal and is also encouraged. The overriding goals of many parents, are to make sure their children are happy, loaded with self-esteem, and armed with enough achievements in the form of awards or admissions. No wonder they look outward rather than inward?
Instead of looking at ourselves in the mirror and changing our appearance to be noticed, would it not be nobler to change the person inside and start making a difference without praise?
Seeing a smile on someone else's face than your own should be enough to satisfy one's hunger for attention.
. "Start with giving, not getting”
Ajeeth Prasath Jain , Principal,
Bhavan's Rajaji Vidyashram

Generation Me?