Six in ten people (more than 4 billion individuals) around the world are carrying a powerful computing device in their pockets and purses. They don’t realize it, but today’s mobile phones have the computing power of a personal computer from the mid-nineties, while consuming a fraction of the energy and are made at significantly lower cost.In India, the mobile phone has revolutionized communication and India is now one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phone services, with growing usage and increasing penetration. According to TRAI, there are 286 million wireless subscribers in India, June 2008, of which 76 million were capable of accessing data services. The increasing ubiquity of the mobile phone begs for it to be used as a learning tool. It would be a shame if we were unable to leverage it to improve socio-economic conditions in our vast population.Mobile phones are not just communications devices sparking new modalities of interaction between people; they are also particularly useful computers that fit in your pocket, are always with you, and are nearly always on. Like all communication and computing devices, mobile phones can be used to learn. The content delivered would depend on the capabilities (features) of… Continue reading
Tag Archive for 'India'
By Sadaket Malik
Over the past five years, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has been busy in attaining the goal of making education accessible to every child, particularly among the marginalised sections in the rural areas. We are also addressing the gap that exists between the market demands and the available skill sets among professionals through the participation of private sector in the curriculum framework. Coming to the aspect of quality, infrastructure and faculty are two major concerns that need to be focused on. We are roping in as many colleges as possible under the ambit of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to upgrade their quality. The UGC and AICTE are also pursuing various measures to lure fresh graduates into research and teaching profession.
Very recently, the Ministry launched National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT).An amount of Rs.4612 crore is being incurred during the 11th Five Year Plan for the scheme. There is a budget provision of Rs.502 crore during the current financial year 2008-09. The government alone cannot address all these challenges. The private sector needs to play a proactive role to supplement the efforts of the government. A… Continue reading
The Asian Development Bank noted in January 2008 that education in India was lagging seriously behind its rapid economic growth with only 12,000 training and vocational institutes, compared to half a million in China.
Short-term turbulences aside (just as we are witnessing now), India has entered an era of high economic growth. As we enter the last quarter of FY 2008, the fourth consecutive fiscal when India has witnessed over 8% growth, we find India’s manpower shortages aggravate even further. Just as growth has been multi-sectoral, so have the manpower deficiencies.
There is a growing demand that the government should increase the outlays on education and do other things to motivate and encourage education. It is true that for India to have consistent rate of growth; Greater levels of R&D, combined with extensive investment in workforce can make a significant contribution. Part of the solution lies in forging strong partnerships between the private sector and the academia. They should be developed in tandem with the government to ensure that courses like computer science are nurtured and developed as a discipline in schools.
In India; on the one hand, you have world-class institutions of higher education such as IITs and IITMs and on… Continue reading
EDUCATION IN INDIAIndia has an ancient tradition of education.The world’s first university was established inTashkila in 700 B.C. Indian mathematicians introduced the zero, the decimal system and themethod of multiplication.
PRIMARY EDUCATION
India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate andexpanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population..The National Council ofEducational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for school education in India.SECONDARY EDUCATIONThe National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, has provided for environment awarenes,science and technology education, and introduction of traditional elements such as Yoga into the Indian secondary school system.Another feature of India’s secondary school system is its emphasis on profession based vocational training to help students attain skills for finding a vocation of his/her choosing.Tertiary educationIndia’s higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States..Some institutions of India, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have been globally acclaimed for their standard of education.Women’s EducationWomen have much lower literacy rate.The number of literate women among the female population of India was between 2-6% from the British Raj onwards to the formation of the Republic of India in 1947.the Indian government has… Continue reading
Until the British came to India, education in India was primarily dominated by Guru-Shisya parampara (Teacher-student tradition). The epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata aptly capture the education environment in such times. Guru (the teacher) imparted his knowledge to Shisyas (the students) and was considered above God. The single biggest advantage of this system was deep bonding between teachers and students as a Shisyas used to dedicate his 10 to 15 years serving and living with the Guru in a Gurukul. The only monetary benefit that Guru received was the Guru Dakshina. However, only a handful of Shisyas could be educated by the system. Mostly because the economics of the system were not good enough to be a success. Also many parents did not want to be separated from their children for 10-15 formative years of their lives. Moreover, the education was very much dependant on the Guru, in terms of what he wanted to teach or knew. Students/parents had no say at all as far as the course curriculum was concerned. In most scenarios students/parents didn’t even had any preference as they didn’t knew what was useful. This system of teaching continued pretty much till the advent of British… Continue reading
Revitalizing secondary education
By Sadaket Malik
With the central government lobbing its ball to the state governments for the implementation of the several schemes for the revitalization of the system of the secondary education in the country, the schemes of the access, equity, Mahila Samakhya, and quality in the field of secondary education has lost its very essence. Basic issues of quality, equity and access to secondary education in India still unresolved besides the central legislations by the Ministry of Human Resource development Govt of India. The expert committees were formulated by the Govt. to gauge the system and suggest the measures to universalize the whole system. The central governments own figures indicate that many as two-thirds of those eligible for secondary education remain outside the school system today. A Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee estimates that 88,562 additional classrooms will be required in 2007-08 and over 1.3 lakh additional teachers. The CABE is the highest advisory body relating to policy making in education in India. Figures put out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Department of School Education and Literacy indicate that as many as two-thirds of those eligible for secondary and senior secondary education remain outside… Continue reading
WOMENS EDUCATION
A STUDY OF FACTORS INFLUENCING WOMEN’S ENTRY INTO HIGHER EDUCATION.
INTRODUCTION
           Inducement of social change as one of the fundamental functions of education has been spelt out in the report of the Indian Education Commission (1964-66) thus:
           “The realization of the country’s aspirations involves changes in the knowledge, skills and values of the people as a whole. If this ‘change in a grand scale’ is to be achieved without a violent revolution there is one and only instrument that can be used â Education”.
EDUCATION :-
           Education is the nourishment of the mind with knowledge this is practiced purposefully and productively.
           Education disciplines the mind, sharpens the intellect and refines the spirit.  It shapes and polishes a rough unknown diamond into a multifaceted kohinoor sparkling with scintillating brilliance. Its the development of integrated personality that unfolds itself to the highest wisdom. Its a continuous process.
           The philosopher President Dr.Radhakrishnan (1948) said, “There cannot be educated people without educated women. If general education has to be limited to men or women, that opportunity should be given to women from them it would most surely be passed on to the next generation”.
HIGHER EDUCATION OF WOMEN :-
           Higher education… Continue reading
Education for All: Trend and out reach at Tamilnadu in India
The world convention on to Meet fundamental Learning requirements was adopted by the World Conference on Education for All at Jomtien, Thailand, in March 1990. The meeting design comprehensive review of policies concerning basic education. The Education for All (EFA) 2000 appraisal is a major global attempt that aims to enable the participating countries to
(i) Construct a comprehensive picture of their progress towards their own Education for All goals since the 1990 Jomtien Conference,
(ii) Identify priorities and promising strategies for overcoming obstacles and accelerating progress, and
(iii) Revise national plans of action accordingly.
EFA indicators which are grouped according to the following six ‘Intention Magnitudeâ:-
1. Expansion of early childhood care and development;
2. Universal access to and completion of primary education;
3. Improvement in learning achievement;
4. Reduction of adult illiteracy rate;
5. Expansion of provision of basic education and training in essential skills required by
Youth and adults; and
6. Increased acquisition by individuals and families of the knowledge, skills and values
organized for better living.
For this purpose a National Assessment Group was constituted in the Department of Education… Continue reading