Ranchi Trip

Last month, I visited  Ranchi for a couple of days almost after

the water tank on hilltop

23 years. I was so excited to visit that place, to see my school and go to those places which were slowly getting eroded from my memory. But the menace of ‘Naxalism’ completely ruined my enthusiasm. We could not go to remote villages and surely not in a ‘car or jeep’ as they generated extra attention, and one local naxalite expert told me that in election time Naxals do not think before bashing up any outside face. Their policy.. first bash them up.. we will see the other issues later.

Though Ranchi city seemed quite peaceful, I ventured out on bike to find my childhood school and all I knew about that school was that there used to be a small hillock near the school and at top of that hillock there was a water tank. I called my mother to get more info, she told that the school was near a Hanuman temple in Harmu. We drove in and around Harmu and were able to locate almost 4-5 temples but the hillock was nowhere. That means there was no way to get to my school. New constructions and other developments  made this place completely different from the image of this place I had in mind.
So came back to guesthouse, disappointed and full of thoughts. Naxalism, Development, Urbanization etc.. My plan to take a road trip to Daltonganj, Garhwa and Ranka stood cancelled. I wanted to use this weekend for that. It would have been an experience to visit these places but the fear of Naxalites and poor connectivity to these places have left me with no options. Probably I will dare again, after the elections when the naxal activities subside.

my school

Next day I as busy in my official chores and I had given up on finding my old school in the concrete jungle, but a local resident and employee of the host organization here in Ranchi, blessed me with his local knowledge. He knew the location of the hillock which has a water tank on top. I realized I can still see my school and I ventured out. He took me near the hillock, in front of a very big nice looking school, St. Francis High School. He was sure that this was my school, but I knew I was not that lucky to have studied in schools like these. But I could still see the hillock and the water tank on top, our favorite place for having lunch around 23 years ago.
I wanted to go there again on the hilltop and somehow I found a way to go there and on the way I could see a almost dilapidated building and here I was. That’s my school, I shouted. Rajkiya Krit Madhya Vidyalaya, Harmu – 12. Suddenly those faint memories became vivid. I could remember the place I used to stand for morning prayers and the school gate and numerous related incidents. School gate was  a common factor in most of the incidents. I jumped the wall to go inside the campus (once inside I realized there were numerous ways, and surely not intended ones, to get inside the campus, the surrounding wall was broken at many places) and saw menu of the food served under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan painted on  the wall.
I pulled out my cam, wanted to capture these moments of relived, realized nostalgia. Great feeling to be there. If I look back on my school days, the biggest complaint (apart from not being able to study in any ‘decent’ schools) is my fathers job forcing frequent school changes for me, that means I could never have those childhood friends. All gone. No trails.

Your Network,Your net worth.

Sometime back I was discussing recruitment processes  with my friends/colleagues and some professors;  the discussion started getting focused on the key skill sets/attributes/features playing critical role in selection. Though we are quite aware of  most  of the skill sets and attributes affecting selection decision, an interesting attribute was the network a candidate has access to. Yes, your network constitutes a significant part of your net worth.
A recruiters (especially those recruiting for managerial posts and  not for skill specific jobs like programmers or firefighters) primarily assess the total value a candidate brings to the table and unlike one’s individual skill sets, knowledge and training, whose effectiveness is tested only after certain amount of time, network’s effectiveness is pre-established and known. It brings immediate value in term of providing an indirect connection for the recruiting organization to a network, which can be exploited in many ways. I know many people who rely hugely on their professional network / college network for effective execution of their professional assignments. Ask anyone working in development sector, they will vouch for it. And here by network I am not referring to only college/ alumni network, it can be your family network (being relative of a minister/cabinet secretary!!) or social network or professional network in terms of contacts and references you carry with yourself from your past organizations/assignments.
The other significant advantage of assessing this attribute is that one can predict future performance to some extent based upon the performance of network members.  It gives a sense of your potential. It builds one’s credibility.The differential pay packages offered to candidate with same qualification from different institutes is reflection of this value and risk assessment only.
And sometime the network becomes more important than the candidate. After all, the potential of a  wire depends on the  power source it is connected to.
( There are some  ‘head fakes’ here.. You can surely gain some extra points if you know how to use your networks.. .. oh .. there are more than a couple of  ‘head fakes’ here..  Sorry I just finished The Last Lecture by Randy Paush .. and I liked the use of ‘head fakes’ …)

‘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)

Education, Schools, Teachers, Grades and Life

After a long time, got an opportunity to read a Hindi novella ‘Bigade Bachche, Sabse Achhe’ (Spoilt Kids, The best Kids) written by V R Jogi and P G Vaidya. A very simple story (it seems that you are reading a book written for 5th graders), yet a thought provoking story.

This story seriously questions our education system which puts too much emphasis on mugging up facts and figures and obtaining good grades in examination instead of acquiring real knowledge Those kids who could not perform well on these parameters are thrown out of the schools, no one bothers to look into the problem and find out why they are not able to do it. Aren’t we supposed to provide more attention and care to these students rather than labeling them as ‘failure’ in early impressionable years which stunts the proper growth of their personality and make them suffer from inferiority complex. These kids are forced to follow a system which is designed more for the convenience of operations/executions rather than for identification of the existing talents in an individual and providing it platform to nurture that talent and excel there.

Its a story of a teachers who runs a school for those who have been thrown out by formal education systems or those who cannot attend those schools for any other reasons. A teacher, who transforms the life of many and shows us an alternative to existing system.

Recently there has been a significant increase in incidents of teachers crossing all the limits when it comes to punishing students and inflicting inhuman corporal punishments. Frequency of these incidence is raising at alarming level and it shows that our teachers need comprehensive change in their attitude and way of teaching. I think this book should be included in B.Ed/M.Ed or teacher training programs just to show that how a teacher affects its student and to make them think.

Though this book is not that you will enjoy reading it on train/plane or if you have been raised on staple diet of Cook, Archer or Rowling, it raises a serious issues, addresses a grave problem and also put you on the track which can lead you to solution.

Technorati Tags: Education, Concern, Rural Education

Educating India???

Look at the picture below. No these are  not ruins of some neglected heritage site, this is a school (situated just 20-30 kms away from Lucknow) in Uttar Pradesh . So where are the students are teachers. They all were very well there, I could not muster the strength to take the picture of the school when teachers were there. They opposed it (Of course they were busy in stuff other than teaching and not appreciative of someone clicking them.).   

It was pleasure to listen our Prime Minister talking about educational reforms and setting up thousands of high quality schools and institutes of higher/professional education. But where these schools are going to be? And for whom? How many of the students coming out this school or of many similar schools would be able to get into these new institutions? I do not think many, or probably none. We need to think about revamping the whole primary education system we have. The journey towards better future starts from that place. The quality of education we get in our initial years, decides where we are going to be.

For millions of Indian, Education is the only hope to take them out of vicious cycle of poverty, only vehicle tool available to build better future, but it seems even this is not available properly to these people.

Technorati Tags: Education, Concern