Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, April 2, 2007
The undergraduate syllabus in the state is going to be updated to keep up with the changing educational needs and trends.
Taking its first step, the West Bengal College and University Teachers Association (WBCUTA) conducted a 2-day seminar at St Xavier’s College, Kolkata on April 1 and 2, called ‘Evaluation System at Undergraduate Level’. “We have seen that the syllabus followed by the colleges and universities in the undergraduate level is not up to the mark. It is outdated and not enough to ensure the students a job after they complete their education. We will soon come up with a framework for a new syllabus and would forward it to all the universities,” said Tarun Patra, general secretary of WBCUTA.
The WBCUTA will be conducting further workshops with the teachers of all the state universities. “We will make a framework of the proposed syllabus and circulate it to all the universities. The universities are autonomous organisations, so it will be up to them to implement it,” said Patra.
The recommendations of the workshop include, a short and relevant curriculum, which would be continuously updated. There were also suggestions to make the curriculum time-bound by converting it into a modular form. Teaching and learning methods are also set to change, by bidding farewell to the traditional ‘chalk and blackboard’ and make learning more interactive and student-friendly. Students will also be asked to present papers in college-level seminars to make them more academically oriented.
The evaluation pattern is also headed for a change. “We often see that after review, only 4 to 5 marks are increased. This happens because the teachers do not evaluate well. In such a scenario, the responsibility of evaluation should be given to the more responsible teachers,” said Father P.C. Mathew, principal of St. Xavier’s College. The aim will be to publish error-free results at the earliest. Suggestions for spot evaluations have also been stressed at the seminar.
After a feedback, taken from teachers and students from the colleges and universities in Bengal, it was found that most students preferred the idea of having grades in their mark sheets instead of marks along with the credit system. The students also urged the teachers to help them do “guided library work” to optimise utilisation of resources.
The teachers on the other hand, have complained that many students treat the college as a registration centre, which would facilitate them to take the university exam and do not bother to attend classes. “We are also suggesting allotment of 5 per cent marks on attendance to ensure that students do not bunk classes,” said Patra.
WEBCUTA will now send its recommendations to the higher education department, all the universities and the Directorate of Public Instructions.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
Monday, April 2, 2007
Stick on truant teachers
Mou Chakraborty & Romita Dutta
Kolkata, April 2, 2007
The bell has gone for truant teachers. To check lecturers from bunking classes, colleges and universities from now will have to pin up their attendance record on the notice boards.
Higher education minister Sudarshan Ray Chaudhuri admitted on Monday that a “vicious cycle” was operating in colleges where many teachers have a tendency to skip classes. Replying to a question by Jharkhand Party’s Chunibala Hansda on a polytechnic college, Ray Chaudhuri said in Assembly it was true that many college teachers do not attend classes.
He has asked the university to make it mandatory for colleges to pin up on a monthly basis the total number of classes allotted to a teacher and the actual number of classes he or she has taken.
The Higher Education Council has already given the green light to it and a circular in this regard will be sent to all colleges and universities in the state shortly.
The West Bengal College and University Teachers Association (WBCUTA) has welcomed the move. “For many years, teachers have been maintaining a self-assessment diary where they have to note their attendance and this is shown to the principal. But according to the new rule, the teachers will now have to make the record public and make it accessible to the students. It is true that some teachers take fewer classes. We can punish them but the best method would be to make them feel guilty by keeping them under pressure. Those who are good will rectify themselves,” said Tarun Patra, general secretary of WBCUTA.
Some teachers, however, feel that it will not solve the problem. “What is the guarantee that the teachers will give the true information? Some teachers sign in the registrar but do not take classes. How will the authorities find out if the teacher is declaring the truth,” asked A.R. Chowdhury, professor of physics at Jadavpur University.
To resolve this problem, students will have to be more alert, feels the SFI, which has long demanded visibility of teacher-student contact. “We have often received complains about teachers not taking classes regularly. The students too will have to be proactive, they will have to point out if the teachers put up wrong information,” said Apurbo Chaterjee, state president of the SFI.
University teachers want the credit for their 24-hour service to research, MPhil and masters students. “It is true that many teachers skip classes and that needs to be pointed out. But what about the university teachers who keep helping students every day irrespective of holidays? There is no credit for such work. Some thing must be done to evaluate their contribution too,” said Arun Bandhyopadhyay, dean of arts at Calcutta University.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
datta_romita@yahoo.com
Kolkata, April 2, 2007
The bell has gone for truant teachers. To check lecturers from bunking classes, colleges and universities from now will have to pin up their attendance record on the notice boards.
Higher education minister Sudarshan Ray Chaudhuri admitted on Monday that a “vicious cycle” was operating in colleges where many teachers have a tendency to skip classes. Replying to a question by Jharkhand Party’s Chunibala Hansda on a polytechnic college, Ray Chaudhuri said in Assembly it was true that many college teachers do not attend classes.
He has asked the university to make it mandatory for colleges to pin up on a monthly basis the total number of classes allotted to a teacher and the actual number of classes he or she has taken.
The Higher Education Council has already given the green light to it and a circular in this regard will be sent to all colleges and universities in the state shortly.
The West Bengal College and University Teachers Association (WBCUTA) has welcomed the move. “For many years, teachers have been maintaining a self-assessment diary where they have to note their attendance and this is shown to the principal. But according to the new rule, the teachers will now have to make the record public and make it accessible to the students. It is true that some teachers take fewer classes. We can punish them but the best method would be to make them feel guilty by keeping them under pressure. Those who are good will rectify themselves,” said Tarun Patra, general secretary of WBCUTA.
Some teachers, however, feel that it will not solve the problem. “What is the guarantee that the teachers will give the true information? Some teachers sign in the registrar but do not take classes. How will the authorities find out if the teacher is declaring the truth,” asked A.R. Chowdhury, professor of physics at Jadavpur University.
To resolve this problem, students will have to be more alert, feels the SFI, which has long demanded visibility of teacher-student contact. “We have often received complains about teachers not taking classes regularly. The students too will have to be proactive, they will have to point out if the teachers put up wrong information,” said Apurbo Chaterjee, state president of the SFI.
University teachers want the credit for their 24-hour service to research, MPhil and masters students. “It is true that many teachers skip classes and that needs to be pointed out. But what about the university teachers who keep helping students every day irrespective of holidays? There is no credit for such work. Some thing must be done to evaluate their contribution too,” said Arun Bandhyopadhyay, dean of arts at Calcutta University.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
datta_romita@yahoo.com
Friday, March 30, 2007
Teachers’ training to reduce summer holidays
Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 30, 2007
There is some bad news for students and teachers belonging to secondary schools under the state board. They will have to forego a week from their summer holidays to facilitate an orientation programme for teachers.
The orientation programme for teachers is being organised to help them understand the new grade system to be introduced in schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE). The summer vacation was due to start from May 18. But a circular from the board has urged all schools to go on vacation on or after May 25. Generally, the schools are closed for 65 days in a year.
“We have done this to ensure that all the schools go on summer vacation at the same time and we can train all the teachers during this period. We are introducing the grade system this year and this orientation programme will be essential to ensure the smooth functioning of the new system,” said Swapan Sarkar, Secretary of WBBSE.
The board has introduced 7-point grading system from Class-VI to IX, starting from the 2007-08 academic session. Henceforth, students would be given grades, besides the actual marks obtained in each subject.
Apart from educating the teachers about the rules related to the grading system, the teachers would also get special training on conducting unit tests. “The syllabus has been updated and the teachers need to know what they will teach and how. The grade system is also new in this state and hence, the teachers should know what to do in the classroom. We had specially requested the board to conduct the training programme as early as possible,” said Shiboprashad Mukhopadhyay, general secretary of All Bengal Teachers Association (ABTA).
There are about 1,70,000 secondary teachers in Bengal. The board will ensure that a sizable proportion of them attend the 5-day training programme. They will go back to their respective schools and train the rest of the teachers. “We will be deciding on the training manual and schedule shortly,” said Sharkar.
The new school session is due to begin on May 2, but full-fledged classes will only start after the summer vacation. Apart from explaining the grade system, the teachers will also be given subject-wise orientation. They will also be updated about the new evaluation process, which would include scanning various competencies of the students such as — knowledge, skill, aptitude and application.
The teachers would also learn how to frame questions under the new syllabus. Apart from annual examinations, the schools are scheduled to conduct 8 unit tests. To incorporate all these changes for the first time, WBBSE will give the teachers a blue print of the academic calendar, which will clearly demarcate when to conduct the unit tests.
However, all teachers’ organisations are not happy with the introduction of the grading system in schools. “The grade system aims at reducing stress. But the way it is being implemented, it will not be able to curb competition. On the contrary, we do not have enough teachers to implement the system,” said Subhankar Bandhyopadhyay, general secretary of Secondary Teachers and Employees Association.
mou.chakraborty@hindustantimes.com
Kolkata, March 30, 2007
There is some bad news for students and teachers belonging to secondary schools under the state board. They will have to forego a week from their summer holidays to facilitate an orientation programme for teachers.
The orientation programme for teachers is being organised to help them understand the new grade system to be introduced in schools under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE). The summer vacation was due to start from May 18. But a circular from the board has urged all schools to go on vacation on or after May 25. Generally, the schools are closed for 65 days in a year.
“We have done this to ensure that all the schools go on summer vacation at the same time and we can train all the teachers during this period. We are introducing the grade system this year and this orientation programme will be essential to ensure the smooth functioning of the new system,” said Swapan Sarkar, Secretary of WBBSE.
The board has introduced 7-point grading system from Class-VI to IX, starting from the 2007-08 academic session. Henceforth, students would be given grades, besides the actual marks obtained in each subject.
Apart from educating the teachers about the rules related to the grading system, the teachers would also get special training on conducting unit tests. “The syllabus has been updated and the teachers need to know what they will teach and how. The grade system is also new in this state and hence, the teachers should know what to do in the classroom. We had specially requested the board to conduct the training programme as early as possible,” said Shiboprashad Mukhopadhyay, general secretary of All Bengal Teachers Association (ABTA).
There are about 1,70,000 secondary teachers in Bengal. The board will ensure that a sizable proportion of them attend the 5-day training programme. They will go back to their respective schools and train the rest of the teachers. “We will be deciding on the training manual and schedule shortly,” said Sharkar.
The new school session is due to begin on May 2, but full-fledged classes will only start after the summer vacation. Apart from explaining the grade system, the teachers will also be given subject-wise orientation. They will also be updated about the new evaluation process, which would include scanning various competencies of the students such as — knowledge, skill, aptitude and application.
The teachers would also learn how to frame questions under the new syllabus. Apart from annual examinations, the schools are scheduled to conduct 8 unit tests. To incorporate all these changes for the first time, WBBSE will give the teachers a blue print of the academic calendar, which will clearly demarcate when to conduct the unit tests.
However, all teachers’ organisations are not happy with the introduction of the grading system in schools. “The grade system aims at reducing stress. But the way it is being implemented, it will not be able to curb competition. On the contrary, we do not have enough teachers to implement the system,” said Subhankar Bandhyopadhyay, general secretary of Secondary Teachers and Employees Association.
mou.chakraborty@hindustantimes.com
Thursday, March 29, 2007
IIMC, IIT-KGP to go ahead with quota implementation
Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 29, 2007
Despite the Supreme Court stay on 27 per cent OBC reservation in elite central educational institutions like IITs and IIMs, IIM Calcutta (IIMC) and IIT Kharagpur will not stall phased implementation of the quota from this year until they receive a government order in his regard.
IIT Kharagpur will take 9 per cent OBC students this year while IIM Calcutta’s target is 3 per cent.
The IIT-JEEs form this year had already mentioned OBC as one of the categories. The exam is scheduled for April 8 with the results due by the end of June.
“We are aware of the Supreme Court order but our process of implementing the quota in phase manner from this year will continue until we get a directive from the government to do otherwise. We will go by the government order and not by the Supreme Court order or media reports. We are continuing with our process,” said S. K. Dube, director, IIT Kharagpur.
After the publication of CAT results on January 2, IIMC had come up with a new list of OBC category students on January 31. These students were interviewed and even short-listed. The offer letters will be given by mid April. “Thankfully we have not sent the offer letters yet. But we cannot close the admissions process for OBC’s if we do not get a government order. Since it is a Supreme Court judgment I am sure the government will issue some sort of order in this regard and we will follow that,” said Prof. Anindya Sen, dean of programmes and research initiative at IIMC.
But though the IIT’s have time till June to go ahead or stall implementation of the quota, IIMC desperately needs a government order in this regard by the second week of April to avoid confusion over admitting 3 per cent OBC students this year. On top of that, unlike IIT Kharagpur, which has kept the general seats intact and is adding up 9 per cent seats for OBC, IIMC has added 3 per cent OBC seats and have increased the same percentage of seats in the general category.
The question now is even if quota implementation is stalled what will happen to the extra 3 per cent general category seats? “If we receive a government order in this regard asking us to stall implementation we will have to think about what should be done about the additional three per cent seats in the general category,” said Prof. Ashish Bhattacharya, a member of the CAT group and chairman, admissions, IIMC.
While IIT Kharagpur is not immediately deciding on the increase in student fees because of the implementation of OBC quota, IIMC’s general body will meet on April 1 to decide on increases in students fee in the wake of implementation of quota. A fee hike is likely because the institute already has a Rs 1 Lakh deficit per student and with 600 students currently in campus the deficit has gone up to Rs 6 crore. “We are already running in deficit and irrespective of the implementation of quota the general body will take its ultimate decision in this regard on April 1,” said Prof. Bhattacharya.
While IIMC has sought about Rs 147 crore for infrastructure development and 50 acres of land, it has been allotted only Rs 47.5 crore. While IIT Kharagpur has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota. The funds in this regard are due to be allotted to all the institutions from the coming financial year, which may get stalled if the OBC quota implementation is held-up by the government.
mou.hindustantimes@gmail.com
BOXES
IIT-Kharagpur’s OBC implementation plan till date
q IIT-KGP likely to introduce 334 seats under OBC category in 2007.
q 125 seats will go to undergraduate programme and 210 seats will be introduced to the post graduate programmes
q The seats in general category will remain intact.
q 60 faculties to be recruited in 2007-2008 academic session for this purpose.
q IIT-KGP has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota.
q Nine percent seats to be added in OBC quota every year till 2009.
q The student’s strength to go up by 54 percent, that is additional 6500 students will be in IIT-KGP campus in 2014.
q All total 500 additional faculties by 2012 to cater to 54 percent extra students.
q The infrastructure will be developed over a period of seven years.
IIM Calcutta OBC implementation plan till date
q IIMC to implement 3 percent OBC quota from 2007 academic session
q Fresh list of OBC candidates will be published by January 31.
q About 50 students will be called and 9 students will be finally offered seat
q IIMC had asked for Rs. 147 crore (approx) for infrastructure development and 50 acers of land.
q The institute has been allotted only Rs.47.5 crore for the purpose.
q Faculty feels the fund is not enough for infrastructure development & maintenance of academic quality.
q While IIMC recommended 1:7 teachers-students ratio the center has cut it to 1:14
q The medical facility in the campus too is not enough to handle the extra population
Kolkata, March 29, 2007
Despite the Supreme Court stay on 27 per cent OBC reservation in elite central educational institutions like IITs and IIMs, IIM Calcutta (IIMC) and IIT Kharagpur will not stall phased implementation of the quota from this year until they receive a government order in his regard.
IIT Kharagpur will take 9 per cent OBC students this year while IIM Calcutta’s target is 3 per cent.
The IIT-JEEs form this year had already mentioned OBC as one of the categories. The exam is scheduled for April 8 with the results due by the end of June.
“We are aware of the Supreme Court order but our process of implementing the quota in phase manner from this year will continue until we get a directive from the government to do otherwise. We will go by the government order and not by the Supreme Court order or media reports. We are continuing with our process,” said S. K. Dube, director, IIT Kharagpur.
After the publication of CAT results on January 2, IIMC had come up with a new list of OBC category students on January 31. These students were interviewed and even short-listed. The offer letters will be given by mid April. “Thankfully we have not sent the offer letters yet. But we cannot close the admissions process for OBC’s if we do not get a government order. Since it is a Supreme Court judgment I am sure the government will issue some sort of order in this regard and we will follow that,” said Prof. Anindya Sen, dean of programmes and research initiative at IIMC.
But though the IIT’s have time till June to go ahead or stall implementation of the quota, IIMC desperately needs a government order in this regard by the second week of April to avoid confusion over admitting 3 per cent OBC students this year. On top of that, unlike IIT Kharagpur, which has kept the general seats intact and is adding up 9 per cent seats for OBC, IIMC has added 3 per cent OBC seats and have increased the same percentage of seats in the general category.
The question now is even if quota implementation is stalled what will happen to the extra 3 per cent general category seats? “If we receive a government order in this regard asking us to stall implementation we will have to think about what should be done about the additional three per cent seats in the general category,” said Prof. Ashish Bhattacharya, a member of the CAT group and chairman, admissions, IIMC.
While IIT Kharagpur is not immediately deciding on the increase in student fees because of the implementation of OBC quota, IIMC’s general body will meet on April 1 to decide on increases in students fee in the wake of implementation of quota. A fee hike is likely because the institute already has a Rs 1 Lakh deficit per student and with 600 students currently in campus the deficit has gone up to Rs 6 crore. “We are already running in deficit and irrespective of the implementation of quota the general body will take its ultimate decision in this regard on April 1,” said Prof. Bhattacharya.
While IIMC has sought about Rs 147 crore for infrastructure development and 50 acres of land, it has been allotted only Rs 47.5 crore. While IIT Kharagpur has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota. The funds in this regard are due to be allotted to all the institutions from the coming financial year, which may get stalled if the OBC quota implementation is held-up by the government.
mou.hindustantimes@gmail.com
BOXES
IIT-Kharagpur’s OBC implementation plan till date
q IIT-KGP likely to introduce 334 seats under OBC category in 2007.
q 125 seats will go to undergraduate programme and 210 seats will be introduced to the post graduate programmes
q The seats in general category will remain intact.
q 60 faculties to be recruited in 2007-2008 academic session for this purpose.
q IIT-KGP has asked for Rs. 680 crore from MHRD for implementation of OBC quota.
q Nine percent seats to be added in OBC quota every year till 2009.
q The student’s strength to go up by 54 percent, that is additional 6500 students will be in IIT-KGP campus in 2014.
q All total 500 additional faculties by 2012 to cater to 54 percent extra students.
q The infrastructure will be developed over a period of seven years.
IIM Calcutta OBC implementation plan till date
q IIMC to implement 3 percent OBC quota from 2007 academic session
q Fresh list of OBC candidates will be published by January 31.
q About 50 students will be called and 9 students will be finally offered seat
q IIMC had asked for Rs. 147 crore (approx) for infrastructure development and 50 acers of land.
q The institute has been allotted only Rs.47.5 crore for the purpose.
q Faculty feels the fund is not enough for infrastructure development & maintenance of academic quality.
q While IIMC recommended 1:7 teachers-students ratio the center has cut it to 1:14
q The medical facility in the campus too is not enough to handle the extra population
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
After Presidency now SFI lose JU students union over Nandigram issue
Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 28
A month ago, the SFI lost the Presidency College students’ union to the political heat over Singur and Nandigram. On Wednesday, it lost the Jadavpur University arts faculty election over the same issues after eight years of uninterrupted domination. The loss will leave the CPI(M)’s students’ wing virtually unrepresented on the campus.
Forum for Arts Students (FAS), a body with an ultra-Left ideology, which made opposition to the state’s land acquisition policy in Singur and Nandigram its main poll plank, swept the election, winning 95 of the 130 Class Representative (CR) seats. It also bagged all the four panel seats of office-bearers. It won the vice-chairman seat by 429 votes, that of the general secretary by 454 votes and those of the day and night assistant general secretaries by 401 and 52 votes. Even the night assistant general secretary’s seat went AIDSO, an FAS ally. The SFI never had much following in university’s engineering and science faculties but had a stranglehold on in the arts faculty.
So complete was its sway that even last year the FAS had only a lone representative in the vice-chairman. With the arts faculty gone the SFI will now have struggle for survival.
“It is a total rout for the SFI. It reflects the students’ anger over Singur and Nandigram issue. The SFI had no voice of its own. It only said what the CPI (M) said. We worked with the people of Nandigram and Singur told the students about the injustice meted out to them,” FAS spokesperson Abhishek Mukherjee said.
SFI state president Sudip Sengupta said, “Our opponents made the sad incident of Nandigram their campaign plank. Even teachers, who had nothing to do with the students’ election, campaigned on the issue. The facts about Nandigram were wrongly represented. But we will overcome this setback.”
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
Kolkata, March 28
A month ago, the SFI lost the Presidency College students’ union to the political heat over Singur and Nandigram. On Wednesday, it lost the Jadavpur University arts faculty election over the same issues after eight years of uninterrupted domination. The loss will leave the CPI(M)’s students’ wing virtually unrepresented on the campus.
Forum for Arts Students (FAS), a body with an ultra-Left ideology, which made opposition to the state’s land acquisition policy in Singur and Nandigram its main poll plank, swept the election, winning 95 of the 130 Class Representative (CR) seats. It also bagged all the four panel seats of office-bearers. It won the vice-chairman seat by 429 votes, that of the general secretary by 454 votes and those of the day and night assistant general secretaries by 401 and 52 votes. Even the night assistant general secretary’s seat went AIDSO, an FAS ally. The SFI never had much following in university’s engineering and science faculties but had a stranglehold on in the arts faculty.
So complete was its sway that even last year the FAS had only a lone representative in the vice-chairman. With the arts faculty gone the SFI will now have struggle for survival.
“It is a total rout for the SFI. It reflects the students’ anger over Singur and Nandigram issue. The SFI had no voice of its own. It only said what the CPI (M) said. We worked with the people of Nandigram and Singur told the students about the injustice meted out to them,” FAS spokesperson Abhishek Mukherjee said.
SFI state president Sudip Sengupta said, “Our opponents made the sad incident of Nandigram their campaign plank. Even teachers, who had nothing to do with the students’ election, campaigned on the issue. The facts about Nandigram were wrongly represented. But we will overcome this setback.”
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
Sunday, March 25, 2007
CNI schools to turn child friendly, ban corporal punishment
Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 25, 2007
Many modern-day teachers, like teachers in their own childhood, still believe sparing the rod only spoils the child. The Churches of North India (CNI) is changing all that. It will ban corporal punishment in its schools and make its teachers ‘child-friendly’.
The rules being drafted for the accent-shift will take effect in July and protect children from punishments like having to stand up on the bench, stand outside the class, squat in a kneel-down position, being beaten with scales and insulted in front of others. In Kolkata, more than 10 schools including La Martiniere, Pratt Memorial, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Paul’s and St. John Diocesan, are gearing up for the change.
“All punishments that involve physical abuse or end in mental and social stigma for the child should stop. Such punishments have a lasting effect. A child should not also be asked to stand outside the class because this amounts depriving him. His parents are paying for his studies and he has the right to attend the classes. Making standing up on the bench too is no solution either. So we are making firm rules barring teachers from administering such punishments,” said CNI head Bishop P. S. P. Raju.
The rules will lay down what a teacher can and cannot do. He will teach his students, adivise even counsel them, but never resort to physical or verbal abuse to discipline them.
If a student turns out to be too obstinate or wayward, the teacher, for instance, can make him write ‘ I will never do this again’ a hundred times. He will explain to the student why he was being punished. But if the student repeats the offence, the principal will step in.
“If the principal fails to make him fall in line, he will speak to the student in the presence of his guardians. If that too fails, we will send him to a counsellor. If this fails to work, we will ask him to go some other school,” said Raju.
To avoid police complaints and lawsuits the whole process of ‘trying to correct an unruly child’ will be documented. “Just as we don’t want children to suffer, we also don’t want our teachers be harassed by our students parents.
A teacher might at times feel that a particular student could do with some mild scolding. But he must scold the child in the presence of another teacher. With proper documentation the school will able to prove its point in a court of law. To help teachers adapt to the new methodology, there will be orientation programmes every three months. We have subject-specific orientation courses. But these programmes will be on teaching techniques,” said Raju.
The curriculum will cover areas like fighting with exam stress, child management and will cover the basic instructions in the UN charter for child protection.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
Kolkata, March 25, 2007
Many modern-day teachers, like teachers in their own childhood, still believe sparing the rod only spoils the child. The Churches of North India (CNI) is changing all that. It will ban corporal punishment in its schools and make its teachers ‘child-friendly’.
The rules being drafted for the accent-shift will take effect in July and protect children from punishments like having to stand up on the bench, stand outside the class, squat in a kneel-down position, being beaten with scales and insulted in front of others. In Kolkata, more than 10 schools including La Martiniere, Pratt Memorial, St. Thomas, St. James, St. Paul’s and St. John Diocesan, are gearing up for the change.
“All punishments that involve physical abuse or end in mental and social stigma for the child should stop. Such punishments have a lasting effect. A child should not also be asked to stand outside the class because this amounts depriving him. His parents are paying for his studies and he has the right to attend the classes. Making standing up on the bench too is no solution either. So we are making firm rules barring teachers from administering such punishments,” said CNI head Bishop P. S. P. Raju.
The rules will lay down what a teacher can and cannot do. He will teach his students, adivise even counsel them, but never resort to physical or verbal abuse to discipline them.
If a student turns out to be too obstinate or wayward, the teacher, for instance, can make him write ‘ I will never do this again’ a hundred times. He will explain to the student why he was being punished. But if the student repeats the offence, the principal will step in.
“If the principal fails to make him fall in line, he will speak to the student in the presence of his guardians. If that too fails, we will send him to a counsellor. If this fails to work, we will ask him to go some other school,” said Raju.
To avoid police complaints and lawsuits the whole process of ‘trying to correct an unruly child’ will be documented. “Just as we don’t want children to suffer, we also don’t want our teachers be harassed by our students parents.
A teacher might at times feel that a particular student could do with some mild scolding. But he must scold the child in the presence of another teacher. With proper documentation the school will able to prove its point in a court of law. To help teachers adapt to the new methodology, there will be orientation programmes every three months. We have subject-specific orientation courses. But these programmes will be on teaching techniques,” said Raju.
The curriculum will cover areas like fighting with exam stress, child management and will cover the basic instructions in the UN charter for child protection.
mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com
Friday, March 23, 2007
Boost for minority schools in state
Mou Chakraborty
Kolkata, March 23, 2007
The religious minority schools in Bengal will no longer have to wait indefinitely for a no objection certificate (NOC). The National Commission for Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI) declared on Friday, that if the state fails to give them an answer within 90 days, they would consider themselves NOC holders. The commission is visiting the city and met 83 Christian schools.
The schools belonging to Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim and Zoroastrian communities will benefit from this provision. NCMEI has come into effect through a parliamentary act and has powers to ensure that the minority educational institutions get justice. “The state sometimes delay on an NOC application by the minority institutions. We protect them for harassment,” said Justice M. S. A. Siddiqui, chairman of NCMEI.
Even if the state government denies NOC, then the schools can reapply with the NCMEI and chances are high that they will get a positive reply. “The state government will not be able to obtain a stay from the lower courts on the judgement delivered by NCMEI. We will ensure that justice is given at the earliest. However, to avail of this facility, all minority institutions should obtain a certificate from us or the government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
Procuring an NOC from the state government is essential. It is only with the help of this certificate that the schools can apply for affiliation with the CBSE, ICSE or West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. NCMEI however, does not plan to give a directive to the boards, making them aware of the provision of minority schools getting NOC automatically if the state does not respond in 90 days. “This is now the law of the land. While applying for an affiliation, the schools needs to show their receipt of the NOC application by the sate government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
About 20 minority schools in the state, which is awaiting NOC from the state government, for over a year, will benefit. St. Xavier’s school applied for NOC for its girl’s school named Mary Ann on January 2006 and is still awaiting the final reply from the school education department.
In order to get NOC, the schools have to agree to certain terms and conditions, which infringe upon their powers. Justice Siddiqui asked the schools not to agree to harsh terms and if required, ensure that such conditions are rectified. The commission has added that the state cannot force quotas on a school even if they are giving grants to the institution. “The schools have the right to admit students from their community, teachers and non-teaching staff. The schools can also increase their fees as per requirement,” Siddiqui said.
The sate government will also not have the right to decease the number of seats in any religious minority institution. However if the state has fixed any eligibility criteria for recruitment of teachers, the institution has to follow it. “We will ensure that the minority institutions’ rights are well protected and the state cannot interfere. However we will also ensure that the academic excellence of the institutions is maintained. The schools will have to follow the basic eligibility criteria set by the state government for staff selection,” Siddiqui said.
(mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com)
Kolkata, March 23, 2007
The religious minority schools in Bengal will no longer have to wait indefinitely for a no objection certificate (NOC). The National Commission for Minority Education Institutions (NCMEI) declared on Friday, that if the state fails to give them an answer within 90 days, they would consider themselves NOC holders. The commission is visiting the city and met 83 Christian schools.
The schools belonging to Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim and Zoroastrian communities will benefit from this provision. NCMEI has come into effect through a parliamentary act and has powers to ensure that the minority educational institutions get justice. “The state sometimes delay on an NOC application by the minority institutions. We protect them for harassment,” said Justice M. S. A. Siddiqui, chairman of NCMEI.
Even if the state government denies NOC, then the schools can reapply with the NCMEI and chances are high that they will get a positive reply. “The state government will not be able to obtain a stay from the lower courts on the judgement delivered by NCMEI. We will ensure that justice is given at the earliest. However, to avail of this facility, all minority institutions should obtain a certificate from us or the government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
Procuring an NOC from the state government is essential. It is only with the help of this certificate that the schools can apply for affiliation with the CBSE, ICSE or West Bengal Board of Secondary Education. NCMEI however, does not plan to give a directive to the boards, making them aware of the provision of minority schools getting NOC automatically if the state does not respond in 90 days. “This is now the law of the land. While applying for an affiliation, the schools needs to show their receipt of the NOC application by the sate government,” said Justice Siddiqui.
About 20 minority schools in the state, which is awaiting NOC from the state government, for over a year, will benefit. St. Xavier’s school applied for NOC for its girl’s school named Mary Ann on January 2006 and is still awaiting the final reply from the school education department.
In order to get NOC, the schools have to agree to certain terms and conditions, which infringe upon their powers. Justice Siddiqui asked the schools not to agree to harsh terms and if required, ensure that such conditions are rectified. The commission has added that the state cannot force quotas on a school even if they are giving grants to the institution. “The schools have the right to admit students from their community, teachers and non-teaching staff. The schools can also increase their fees as per requirement,” Siddiqui said.
The sate government will also not have the right to decease the number of seats in any religious minority institution. However if the state has fixed any eligibility criteria for recruitment of teachers, the institution has to follow it. “We will ensure that the minority institutions’ rights are well protected and the state cannot interfere. However we will also ensure that the academic excellence of the institutions is maintained. The schools will have to follow the basic eligibility criteria set by the state government for staff selection,” Siddiqui said.
(mou.hindustantimes@yahoo.com)
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