‘English’ Patients and Quality of Education

I read two contrasting articles revealing two different aspects of Indian education system, though most of us are quite aware of the indian education sceanrio, yet these articles made me ponder over them. The first article was a news clipping “36% of scientists at NASA are Indians: Govt survey” and the second one a cover story in  Outlook ” English Speaking Curse“.

As an Indian, I feel really proud looking at the figures quoted by D Purandeshwari, minister of state for HRD, in defence of the country’s higher education system and the state of research.

..as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in NASA, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians.
If that’s not proof enough of Indian scientific and corporate prowess, digest this: 34% employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM, 17% at Intel and 13% at Xerox are Indians..

..number of PhD holders had gone up from 17,898 two years back to 18,730 last year. ..

If these number indicate the quality of ‘educational system’ in India (I am referring to quality of overall system not a few institutes like IITs and IIMs), we have all the reasons to be proud of, sadly this is not the case. These figures do tell story of Indians’ drive to excel, hardwork and dedication. It would be interesting to see how many of these scientists, engineers, researchers in these institutions are product of ‘only’ Indian education system and have not gone to pursue Masters and Ph.Ds at Ivy League institutions to make themselves more equipped and more ’saleable’.  Nobody doubts quality of Indian manpower and IIT/IIM entrance examinations act as screening procedure to get the best of the best talents from ‘the talented Indian manpower pool’.

A glance at the orginal quality research work published by faculty of Indian universities and instiutions will give you the real picture. We are way behind. Hmm.. I am dreaming of the day when an Indian institute will produce a noble laureate in science or economics. 

The Outlook Cover Story ” The Torment of English” depicts the plight of a major section of students striving to be proficient in Engish and the poor quality of faculty and course curricula to teach English as Second Language. ‘Benchmarking’ and ‘Standardization’ are two key aspects of quality. And the following excerpts from an email sent to Outlook magazine from a student who got 100 per cent marks in English in CBSE Examination tells the real story.

It all depends on how one pen down the ideas.. the flow in the language helped me fetched marks…

… Don’t use harsh words, keep the language simple, short and yet so crispy.. do not get deviate from the topic…

And have a look at the job application submitted by an M.A.

“With profound veneration, I implore to ejaculate before you the following few lines for favour of your kind consideration. I am MA and having 12  years experience in concerning field.”

Here is another one .. a PhD Student in an English communication class at an IIT –

“Although the freedom of thought is most- important but it is not or easy as it sound…When express different opinion. If we refused -to other people to hold there opinion on religion or politics. The process is impossible.”

Mrs. D Purandeshwari, do you see something here? You have got a herculean task cut out for you.

UPDATE

The figures quoted by Mrs. D Purandeshwari are absolute bulls*** and taken from chain-spam mails. Now, I think I need not  write about the quality of our bureaucracy and lethargy/stupidity of our minister for quoting such baseless figures in parliament.

(Picture and excerpts.. coursey Outlook)