Page 22 - EW November 2024

Education News

social and political change worldwide. For instance, the THEY SAID IT
1960 Greensboro sit-in by Black students at Woolworths
in the US diluted segregation laws; the Soweto uprising in “…the truth is crystal clear. In 2014, during
South Africa in 1976 was pivotal in dismantling apartheid; the Congress UPA government, there
in 1989, the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia toppled were 16,217 sanctioned posts in Central
the Communist regime. More recently, the anti-reservation universities out of which 6,042 posts, i.e. 37%
student protest in Bangladesh upended the Sheikh Hasina posts, were vacant. The Modi government is
government.
Therefore the consensus in Kolkata is that at the very rapidly filling all these posts by taking every
least, real reforms in public health institutions and services section along. This is the reason that despite
are imminent. the increase in the number of sanctioned
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata) posts (18,940) in 2024 as compared to
2014, the total number of vacant posts has
TAMIL NADU decreased from 37% to 26.8% today.”
Parents power initiative Dharmendra Pradhan, Union education minister,
responding to Congress president Mallikarjun
Kharge's charge that faculty vacancies have
ne of the mandates (s.21) of the landmark right of increased (Indian Express, November 5)
Children to Free & Compulsory Education Act,
O2009, was that every school countrywide (other "He understood the hopes and aspirations
than private unaided schools) shall constitute School of young entrepreneurs and recognised the
Management Committees (SMCs) comprising “elected potential they had to shape India's future.
representatives of the local authority, parents or guard- By backing their efforts, he empowered a
ians of children admitted in such schools and teachers”
with the proviso that “three-fourth of members of SMCs generation of dreamers to take bold risks
shall be parents or guardians.” and push boundaries. This has gone a long
On August 7, the Tamil Nadu education ministry way in creating a culture of innovation and
issued an order directing all 42,000 government and entrepreneurship.”
aided schools to establish SMCs (School Management Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tribute to the late
Committees) as per the provisions of s.21 of the RTE Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Group of companies
Act. The ministry order stated that the first meetings of (The Economic Times, November 9)
SMCs should be held on October 25 to review commit-
tee resolutions passed during the two years past, and to “The fact that he is a known commodity with
establish career guidance cells for senior school students. a good relationship with our PM is bound
Moreover, henceforward schools shall maintain physical to be a positive thing in the relationship
registers of resolutions and record them digitally for dis- between two heads of government... We also
semination among parents. know he is very tough on China which is
The sudden resurrection of SMCs by the DMK state
government has taken monitors of Tamil Nadu’s K-12 good for us as we ourselves are having our
education scene by surprise. A government order dated own issues with China. So that is where we
August 7, 2024 advises schools to hold monthly SMC can find ourselves finding common cause
meetings, hitherto held with Mr. Trump.”
quarterly. Moreover, Shashi Tharoor on Donald Trump's victory in the US
members of SMCs are presidential elections (The Telegraph, November 6)
being awarded identity
cards with their details “The economy is like it was during the
uploaded on websites Mughal empire — it produces bespoke goods
and notice boards, and at high markups for the rich, but is unable
a monitoring commit- to service the mass market demand of the
tee chaired by the chief ordinary Indian due to low productivity.
secretary has been set Rent-seeking, not profit maximisation, is
up to oversee SMC
resolutions implemen- therefore the goal of most entrepreneurs.”
tation every quarter. John Arokia Prabhu Rathin Roy, professor, Kautilya Shool of Public Policy
Well-informed edu- Hyderabad in an essay titled 'India's 'Mughal'
Economy (The Economic Times, November 12)
22 EDUCATIONWORLD NOVEMBER 2024