Swachh Bharat Abhiyan: Glimmer of hope or playing it to the gallery?

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September 30, 2014

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for providing toilets for girls in schools in his first Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Later, raising the bar, he gave a call for a “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan”, which has prompted a few corporates and PSUs to build toilets in schools across the country. Modi seems to echo the sentiments of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who once said: ‘‘The day every one of us gets a toilet to use, I shall know that our country has reached the pinnacle of progress.” His successors, however, did not perhaps see things in the same light.

As a result, India still practises open defecation.

Let’s consider the following:

• Thanks to open defecation, 21 percent of communicable diseases in India are water-related

• More than 100,000 Indians die every year due to diarrhoea

• About 88 percent of diarrhoea cases are linked to lack of water and sanitation

• India carries the highest burden of mosquito-borne diseases, with 24 million cases

• 14.8 million are affected by dysentery in India

• Rampant worm infestation and repeated diarrhoea episodes result in widespread child malnutrition

• 11 out of 28 states are in the grip of cholera outbreaks for three consecutive years

• Annually, nearly 600,000 children below 18 have lost their lives to diarrhoea and pneumonia

• India is also home to the largest number of stunted children in the world.

According to the 2011 Census, toilets are still a pipe dream in an overwhelming 69.3 percent of rural India and 18.6 percent urban areas, compared to the ownership of mobile phones and television sets; as a result, nearly 50 percent of India’s 122.9 million households practise open defecation.

In his book “Billions of Entrepreneurs: How China And India Are Reshaping Their Futures And Yours”, Tarun Khanna observes the toilet revolution in India is gathering steam but has miles to go before India will become open defecation free.

In this backdrop, does the Prime Minister’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan come as a glimmer of hope, or just another bid to play it to the gallery? What’s your take? Share it with us…and let people know what you think.

BMC to teach children disaster management

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September 26, 2014

Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) plans to have miniature disaster management cells in some of the biggest civic schools in the city, depending on their geographical location, size and the kind of calamities and diseases they are prone to. It will then train 5,000 students and 1,000 teachers in its schools in controlling and operating the cells.

Private schools and smaller municipal schools can then avail of the facilities and services of the trained students and teachers.

“In the recent flood thousands of our students were stranded in schools or in buses. Now, we want them to be capable enough to tackle such a situation in the future,” said A Karande, BMC deputy municipal commissioner, education. Drills would be conducted round the year, except during examination months, she added.

The training, set to start next month, will have students performing mock drills, conducted with the help of the BMC’s disaster management cell, fire brigade officials, health officials, and disaster management experts.

The students will also be provided with disaster management manuals in various languages and equipment to help them tackle flood or a landslide.

Many schools have welcomed the BMC initiative. Shobdha Patil, deputy principal of Prabhadevi Municipal Marathi School, said after the deluge the kids were sacred and needed this kind of move to instill confidence in them. “The BMC should take parents of the kids also into confidence during the programme,” she said.

However, not all are optimistic about the success of the programme. “Why are they closing the gate after the horse has left the stable? There is no serious thinking going behind the programme,” said Ramesh Joshi, general secretary of the Brihanmumbai Mahapalika Shikshak Sabha.

Two years ago the BMC had conducted an earthquake simulation training programme to teach children ways to handle an earthquake. The BMC has nearly 5,30,540 students in its 2,000 schools in the city. It also employs some 13,660 teachers in these schools.

School Education Board Secretary’s degree invalid: Punjab Govt to HC

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September 26, 2014

An affidavit filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court states has cast a shadow on the educational qualifications of Gurinder Pal Singh Bath, the state’s Secretary of the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

According to the affidavit filed by Anjali Bhawra, Principal Secretary, Education, Punjab, the MTech degree of PSEB secretary Gurinder Pal Singh Bath is “not valid and admissible”. The affidavit was filed in response to a petition filed by Malwinder Singh, a social studies master, challenging the appointment of Bath as PSEB secretary, on the grounds that his MTech degree acquired through distance mode was not valid.

Bhawra informed the court that the state government had directed the education board to reconsider Bath’s appointment, and file amended reply before the HC after taking action. In her affidavit, Bhawra stated, “On the basis of correspondence with the All India Council for Technical Education, Punjab Technical Education, and University Grants Commission, the government observed that the MTech degree obtained by Gurinder Pal Singh, as a bonafide student from Aggarwal College, Mohali, through distance education mode from Karnataka State Open University, is not valid and admissible.”

Bhawra submitted, “The state government on August 25 also issued instructions to the PSEB to reconsider his appointment to the post of secretary, PSEB, and to file an amended reply before the HC after taking necessary action.” The petition now comes up for hearing on September 29.

Bar Council of India derecognises DU’s law course

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September 26, 2014

The Bar Council of India (BCI) has decided to derecognise the law course run by Delhi University (DU) at its three centres, namely Campus Law Centre, Law Centre-1 and Law Centre-2. According to the decision by the the apex regulatory body for law education and the legal profession in India, students admitted in these centres from 2011-12 onwards won’t be eligible to be enrolled as advocates and can’t practice.

On Monday, BCI announced its decision through a letter sent to the vice chancellor of DU and to all state bar councils, including that of Delhi. Law graduates from Delhi University (DU) have now been left in the lurch in wake of this unprecedented decision.

“In absence of extension of approval of affiliation of these law centres, the students who were admitted in the sessions 2011-12 onward and passed out from the academic year 2013-14 are not eligible for enrollment as advocates. You are therefore advised to take appropriate action with regard to these law centres and inform BCI about steps taken in this regard immediately,” the BCI letter to DU says.

Sources said that BCI was forced to act after DU failed to respond to repeated reminders on extension of affiliation beyond the academic year 2010-11. A communication on behalf of the BCI was sent to the three centres in July 2010 for the first time that DU must seek approval and throw open its centres for BCI’s inspection.

“In spite of the said communication the law centres have not applied to the council for extension of approval of affiliation,” BCI has added saying Legal Education Rules 2008 have not been followed by DU, inviting de-recognition.

As per the Rules, a law college/law school/institution that has not been inspected for a continuous period of 5 years shall have to apply afresh to the BCI and seek approval of affiliation on or before July 31, 2010. Those colleges which fail to apply lose the right to impart legal degree.

Educationists resist draft NCTE regulations

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September 26, 2014

A section of educationists have put up a stiff resistance to the proposed ruled rules that seek to change the curriculum of the Bachelor of Elementary Education. The draft National Council for Teacher Education (Recognition Norms & Procedure) Regulations, 2014, saw some stiff resistance from some members of the Council at its meeting in New Delhi September 25.

What has particularly upset a section of educationists is the bid to change the curriculum of the Bachelor of Elementary Education (B.El.Ed).

According to some members, the draft circulated a couple of days ahead of the meeting seeks to supersede the 2007 regulations. The draft, according to some academics, was prepared without the approval of the NCTE Council and runs “contrary’’ to the report submitted by the Norms Committee (set up as mandated by the Justice Verma Committee on Teacher Education constituted by the Supreme Court) which had laid down norms for all teacher education courses including B.Ed and M.Ed.

The NCTE meeting that was held to push for its own norms went on for several hours but remained inconclusive and is now likely to reconvene today.

School body serves Maharashtra Government notice over RTE funds

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September 26, 2014

In the latest in the ongoing war over the Right to Education (RTE) Act between private schools and the government, the Maharashtra English School Trustees Association (Mesta), a body of English medium schools in the state, has sent a legal notice to the state government on Monday for having failed to pay fees for the past three years.

MESTA has alleged that the state has failed to pay them roughly Rs 100 crore for the education of underprivileged kids mandated in the RTE Act. As a result, schools say that they have been facing difficulties in their daily functioning due to a financial crunch. Schools have now sought a response from the government within seven days, failing which they have threatened to move court.

The Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009, which allows free and compulsory education for children in the age group of 6-14 years, keeps 25 per cent seats in all private schools reserved for children coming from an underprivileged background. These kids are given free education with the government paying for it.

But, for the past three years, no school has received the promised reimbursement. Private schools, as a result, are finding it difficult to run due to the financial crunch. The legal notice has been sent to the Chief minister, Education minister, Chief secretary, Education secretary, Education commissioner and Director of Primary Education.

The government has decided to reimburse the fixed amount of Rs 14,000 per student per year. Each school has admitted around 50-100 students under RTE. But, none has got any reimbursement for three years, thereby creating a major financial crunch. Roughly calculated, the government owes around Rs 100 crore to all schools across the state.

UGC to get MHRD backing in Symbiosis stand-off

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September 26, 2014

The University Grants Commission is likely to get the support of the Ministry of Human Resource Development for its decision to deny permission to Pune-based Symbiosis University to set up an off-campus center in Hyderabad. The UGC decision that came earlier this week is the second time that the education regulator has denied this permission to the deemed university.

Symbiosis had approached the Supreme Court after it was denied permission to set up an off-campus in Telangana earlier this year. Last week, while hearing a petition by Symbiosis, the apex court had pulled up the UGC for allowing the HRD Ministry to be involved in the decision-making process and asked the UGC to take a re-look into the university’s proposal. The UGC, however, stuck to its decision to deny permission.

In a likely turn of events, the HRD ministry is now learnt to have decided to endorse the UGC’s decision, although an official communication to this effect has not been received by the ministry yet. The UGC had claimed its decision was in view of the ministry’s policy on deemed universities and their expansion. It had also considered reports by the UGC expert committee, the All India Council for Technical Education and the Bar Council of India (BCI).

Symbiosis University has now challenged the UGC’s latest decision in court as well.

Smriti Irani kicks off campaign under ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’

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September 26, 2014

Aimed at promoting awareness on hygiene, HRD minister Smriti Irani on Thursday initiated a campaign under the central government’s ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’. Launching the programme, the minister joined students and teachers in cleaning the school campus at a Kendriya Vidyalaya in New Delhi yesterday.

Under the HRD ministry’s ‘Swachh Bharat, Swachh Vidyalaya’ campaign, schools with the highest green rating would be felicitated with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh. Irani, who used broom and shovel to clean the ground, called upon the involvement of all to become part of the mission and put in their best efforts for the success of the campaign.

The campaign is aimed at motivating students and making them realise that hygienic way of living was the best way. The campaign will go on till October 31 in the schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) said in a statement. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also slated to release a booklet on sanitation on October 2, when he launches the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’, promoting behavioural changes in children. An important component of the mission is the construction of toilets in schools.

The seven states, which account for 80 per cent of the schools without toilets, have been asked to start building toilets from October 2, when the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ would be launched. The states include Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar and Assam. The state governments would initiate construction of toilets in 25,000 schools on October 2, under the ‘Sarva Siksha Abhiyan’ and ‘Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhiyan programme, officials in the HRD Ministry said.

States would also be advised to periodically monitor the functionality of toilets and take up repair and maintenance work, they said. The ministry has also asked higher educational institutes to join the campaign.

Stage set for Indo-US educational partnerships

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September 25, 2014

The Union Cabinet has approved a number of agreements between USA and India ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.

The Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval for the signing of a joint declaration between India’s Human Resource Development (HRD) ministry and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the US, to initiate a new programme titled Global Initiative of Academic Networks (GIAN) in Higher Education.

Another agreement will be for cooperation and support to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). Yet another will be on a programme for partnership for ‘active learning for young aspiring minds’.

“It will be an online education programme, and will be later integrated with national mission for education,” Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said. This Indo-US Partnership for Online Education (IUPOE) programme will comprise a mechanism that will enable the top universities of the US (top 100 in global rankings) to create and share postgraduate online courses (and associated assets) on the Indian “SWAYAM” platform.

SWAYAM is an online platform of the HRD ministry through which online programmes will be offered to students in India.

Board officials visit Mumbai colleges to inspect marks allotment

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September 25, 2014

After noticing that city junior colleges had made errors in awarding marks in Environmental Sciences (EVS) and Physical Training (PT) in the HSC board exams of 2013-14, Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) officials, visited the city colleges to investigate the issue.

The officials made a strict check on the allotment of marks, but did not inspect any infrastructural or administrative problems that the colleges are facing. Marks in EVS are counted in the total, and PT marks are converted into grades.

A teacher in a reputed South Mumbai college said: “We were surprised to see board officials visit our college. Though we hadn’t committed any mistake in awarding marks, they sought details on how marks were awarded in the two subjects.”

BB Chauhan, south zone education inspector, said: “The board gave names of some colleges to the deputy director, who instructed education inspectors to check how marks were awarded in graded subjects.” Laxmikant Pandey, chairman, Mumbai Divisional Board, said: “Yes, we asked education inspectors to check how marks were awarded in graded subjects in the last board exam as many colleges had made mistakes.”

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