schools

The CBSE action against NPS schools is a classic study of everything that is wrong in the way we manage education. Without going into the specifics of NPS itself, we should be able to see the wrinkles in the canvas. a. First, the public school system is bad. To be precise, it is one of the WORST IN THE WORLD. It is so bad that even poor people are fleeing it, and putting children in private schools at their own cost. In Karnataka, only one out of three children who depend on the state pass high school, and even among…

The CBSE action against NPS schools is a classic study of everything that is wrong in the way we manage education. Without going into the specifics of NPS itself, we should be able to see the wrinkles in the canvas. a. First, the public school system is bad. To be precise, it is one of the WORST IN THE WORLD. It is so bad that even poor people are fleeing it, and putting children in private schools at their own cost. In Karnataka, only one out of three children who depend on the state pass high school, and even among…

Deepanjali Mishra. Pic: Pravir B. Sukanti and Bhagirathi Mishra are on cloud nine. Since May 28, when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results for Grade 10 board examination, these Whitefield residents are elated. Their daughter, Deepanjali, has done exceptionally well, securing A1 score in all five subjects. “My parents were really happy because it was their dream that I score well in 10th,” she exclaims when asked for her reaction. Her father is employed as a plumber in a housing complex, where her mother works as a cook. Her uncle is an electrician. “I was able…

Deepanjali Mishra. Pic: Pravir B. Sukanti and Bhagirathi Mishra are on cloud nine. Since May 28, when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results for Grade 10 board examination, these Whitefield residents are elated. Their daughter, Deepanjali, has done exceptionally well, securing A1 score in all five subjects. “My parents were really happy because it was their dream that I score well in 10th,” she exclaims when asked for her reaction. Her father is employed as a plumber in a housing complex, where her mother works as a cook. Her uncle is an electrician. “I was able…

I don't know how many of you have ever had to switch schools in tenth grade and/or have kids who switched schools in tenth grade. If you have, I think you'll agree with me when I say that it is, in the truest sense of the word, an ordeal. For the past ten years, my academic career (OK, it's not exactly academic... let's call it my schooling) has taken place in Vidya Niketan School of Kempapura, Hebbal in Bangalore. This year, though, for reasons we need not go into, we decided that I was to switch schools. We began by…

I don't know how many of you have ever had to switch schools in tenth grade and/or have kids who switched schools in tenth grade. If you have, I think you'll agree with me when I say that it is, in the truest sense of the word, an ordeal. For the past ten years, my academic career (OK, it's not exactly academic... let's call it my schooling) has taken place in Vidya Niketan School of Kempapura, Hebbal in Bangalore. This year, though, for reasons we need not go into, we decided that I was to switch schools. We began by…

Jesus is supposed to have said that "Man does not live by bread alone". Whether I eat only bread or other things along with it, though, a lot of the stuff I'm currently learning will be of no help whatsoever in acquiring it. That's what I feel every time I sit down, or, as the case may be, try to keep my head off the desk, in class. My main issue is with the amount we're expected to write - by hand! I'm not expecting to spend much time writing going forward—after all, this is 2015, not 1215. And anyway,…

Jesus is supposed to have said that "Man does not live by bread alone". Whether I eat only bread or other things along with it, though, a lot of the stuff I'm currently learning will be of no help whatsoever in acquiring it. That's what I feel every time I sit down, or, as the case may be, try to keep my head off the desk, in class. My main issue is with the amount we're expected to write - by hand! I'm not expecting to spend much time writing going forward—after all, this is 2015, not 1215. And anyway,…

The Right to Education Act has to be amended, to have any chance of succeeding. In fact, almost certainly, without amendments it will do more harm than good, and there is enough evidence of this happening already. Four common-sense steps will help. (a) The regulation of the education sector has to be separated from the Education departments of states. The regulator should be able to oversee the functioning of both public schools and private schools. (b) Unaided schools should be exempt from this law, and instead be brought under a new voluntary-mandatory mix like has been done for CSR in…

The Right to Education Act has to be amended, to have any chance of succeeding. In fact, almost certainly, without amendments it will do more harm than good, and there is enough evidence of this happening already. Four common-sense steps will help. (a) The regulation of the education sector has to be separated from the Education departments of states. The regulator should be able to oversee the functioning of both public schools and private schools. (b) Unaided schools should be exempt from this law, and instead be brought under a new voluntary-mandatory mix like has been done for CSR in…