Page 26 - EW October 2024

Education News

nerjee have lost their sheen. TMC has been charged with THEY SAID IT
a spate of corruption charges including a chit fund scam,
malpractice in mid-day meals and ration distribution, “This quiet revolution, this subtle shift, in the
and a prolonged multi-crore school and college teacher way Kashmir engages with democracy, may
recruitment scandal. well be the most profound transformation of
In most cases, Banerjee has weathered the storm,
contending the charges were politically motivated aimed all.”
at destabilizing her administration. However, revela- Mohammad Tabish, a Chevening Scholar, on high voter
turnout in the recent Jammu & Kashmir assembly
tions of unprecedented corruption in the state’s medical election (Outlook, October 11)
education may well prove to be the last straw. This is
because of the gravity of accusations — ranging from col-
lege authorities providing teachers lists of students who “Legend has it that one of the earliest forms
should be failed, transfer of teachers to remote places of the prasad was documented way back in
for not complying with such instructions, marks allotted 1715. Today, so coveted is the sweet offering
favouring students close to the ruling TMC, corrupt of- that the temple produces some 300,000 daily
ficials rewarded with plum posts and sexual harassment contributing Rs.500 crore to the annual kitty
of female students being hushed up with threats of poor
grades — have resonated deeply with the public. of the world’s’ richest Hindu shrine.”
As details of the case unfold, junior doctors in Kolkata Amarnath K. Menon, journalist, on allegations that
are resolute about seeking justice, even as tales of colos- Tirupati laddoo (prasad) was contaminated with
sal corruption under the state government’s watch are animal fat (India Today, October 14)
spreading like wildfire. Political pundits in Kolkata warn
that the RG Kar rape-murder could mark the end of “Even in difficult times, the Tata Group under
Banerjee’s long stewardship of West Bengal. his leadership was seen as a uniquely benign
Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
employer. It did not swindle, it paid its debts, it
TAMIL NADU stood behind its products—and it was largely, if
Dangerous boom not entirely, free from scandal. It also placed a
tremendous effort on philanthropic activities.”
The Economist (online) on death and legacy of Ratan
ver the past 25 years since it was modestly pro- Tata, chairman of Tata Group (October 10)
moted with the ambition to make education the
O#1 item on the sputtering national development “Even the BJP was conceding to challenges
agenda, EducationWorld (estb.1999) has relentlessly on a number of fronts: corruption, unemploy-
championed foundational early childhood care and edu- ment, agrarian distress and urban dysfunc-
cation (ECCE) which had been almost totally ignored —
especially in public education — for over seven decades. tion. To fritter this opportunity will hurt; it
In 2010, EW convened the first International ECCE changes the momentum of Indian politics. It
Conference in Mumbai. Simultaneously, the first Educa- strengthens Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
tionWorld India Preschool Rankings were launched to who was beginning to look very shaky, and is
showcase the country’s best preschools in six cities. Since indicative still of a large residual resistance to
then, the annual EW India Preschool Rankings have been accepting Rahul Gandhi.”
published without interruption featuring most admired Pratap Bhanu Mehta, public intellectual on Congress
preschools in 17 cities as also the country’s best (govern- party loss in Haryana assembly election (Indian
ment-run) Anganwadi Centres (AWCs). Express, October 9)
Evidently EW’s sustained championing of ECCE has
paid off. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 ac-
cords high importance to ECCE. To the extent that the “Some of Tata Group’s acquisitions have
previous 10+2 school education system has been recast as indeed helped make it enough of a household
5+3+3+4 mandating three years of compulsory pre-prima- name across countries, for it to emerge as the
ry education for all children. only Indian brand among the world’s top 100
However, according to reports from the southern state most valued brands, per Brand Finance global
of Tamil Nadu, ECCE has now become too popular. The rankings.”
Federation of Private School Associations (FPSA) in the Editorial analysing why Tatas apart, no Indian corpo-
state has raised alarm over mushrooming pre-primaries, rate is a global brand (Times of India, October 11)

26 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2024