Page 16 - EW February 2023

Education News

FHEIs through UGC rules and regu- who believe that the party’s belated ess. Only 7.8 percent of rural primaries
lations without a full-fledged debate ideological about-turn and opening in the state have a separate teacher for
in Parliament is anathema to Left the gates to FHEIs will provoke a pre-primary classes; a mere 13.6 per-
academics and students. “This is re- stampede, are likely to experience cent of schools have received notifica-
activation of ‘drain theory’, by which disillusionment. tion to implement Foundational Liter-
educational East India Companies Autar Nehru (Delhi) acy and Numeracy (FLN) activities for
will plunder the vast education sec- classes I-III, and only 9 percent have
tor. Social justice concerns have been WEST BENGAL trained FLN teachers, the lowest per-
totally ignored which is very impor- centage countrywide. Unsurprisingly,
tant in our context where higher edu- Indignation the report ranks West Bengal high for
cation is a very effective means for primary children availing private tu-
social change,” says a statement from groundswell ition — 74.2 percent cf. the national
the Aam Aadmi Party-affiliated Delhi average of 30.5 percent. Moreover,
Teachers’ Association (AADTA). ccording to the recently re- ASER 2022 says that only 15 percent
However though the UGC guide- leased Annual Status of Edu- of children received learning materials
lines have belatedly invited Top Acation Report (ASER) 2022 of during the pandemic and a mere 33
500 ranked foreign universities to the highly respected Pratham Educa- percent had access to smartphones to
establish campuses in India, the tion Foundation, which assessed the learn online.
response is likely to be tepid. In typi- learning outcomes of 11,994 children It’s pertinent to note that India’s
cal Indian bureaucracy style, the fine in rural primaries in 18 districts of pandemic lockdown of the educa-
print often contradicts the primary West Bengal, although classroom at- tion sector averaging 82 weeks, was
intent. There are numerous terms tendance has risen to 92.2 percent the most prolonged worldwide. But
and conditions relating to entry the lockdown of education
qualifications, repatriation of income institutions in the state was
and doubts about policy stability above the national average at
that could prove to be disincentives 99 weeks. According to a local
for top-ranked Western universities study — Learning Together,
accustomed to enjoy real autonomy conducted in September 2021
from government. Therefore, sen- and written after testing a
tient monitors of Indian education representative sample of
recommend gradual entry of FHEIs 7,204 primary school (classes
into Indian academia. I-V) students statewide — 28
As a first step, government could percent of pupils in govern-
“strengthen NEP 2020 recommen- ment-run primary schools
dations regarding ‘internationalisa- in West Bengal have become
tion-at-home’ by empowering our “totally disconnected from
own HEIs to bring in more foreign academic activities” and bal-
students. Enabling foreign universi- ASER test in WB: dismal picture anced nutrition has become
ties and their research centres to “a distant dream” for a signif-
build deeper and more meaningful from a low of 72.9 percent in 2021, icant proportion of children because of
collaboration with Indian HEIs is learning outcomes plunged precipi- diminished household incomes.
also necessary. Ideally, the starting tously during the prolonged Covid-19 The lackadaisical attitude, border-
point should be to set up campuses pandemic lockdown of schools state- ing on indifference, of the ruling Tri-
as joint ventures in collaboration wide. Alarmingly, younger children namool Congress (TMC) government
with top-ranked (Indian) HEIs and have been worst hit with only 33 per- — now in its third consecutive five-
enable faculty and student mobil- cent of class III children — down from year term in office — has provoked
ity. Such partnerships will also help 40 percent pre-pandemic — able to a groundswell of indignation within
build powerful synergies for the read class II-level texts. Among class West Bengal’s bhadralok (refined
future,” advises Bhushan Pat- V students who can read class II-level middle class) which is the standard
wardhan, a former vice chairman of texts, the percentage is down to 47.1 bearer of the state’s once highly re-
UGC and Yugank Goyal, associ- from 50.5 percent in 2018. spected culture and academic tradi-
ate professor at FLAME University, ASER 2022 paints a dismal picture tion.
Pune in an op-ed essay in the Indian of the pitiable condition of youngest “Children now in primary school
Express (January 12). children in West Bengal, a state that have learnt nothing in the past two
This is good advice. BJP leaders prides itself on its intellectual prow- years and have forgotten what they

16 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2023