Page 32 - EW December 2023

Education News

NEET. Because in the long run, if this secession is success- THEY SAID IT
ful, Tamil Nadu’s medical practitioners will be perceived
as inferior to their counterparts in other states. “If we are to truly uplift the socio-econom-
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) ically disadvantaged sections, working on
mission mode to improve quality of educa-
KARNATAKA tion at school and college levels should be the
Mission impossible foremost priority... Compelling higher rated

institutions like IIMs and IITs to admit under-
ith student enrolment in the state’s 49,679 prepared students from socio-economically
government schools showing consistent weaker backgrounds into their Ph D pro-
Wdecline, Karnataka’s Congress government grammes will not correct the ills of a funda-
which was voted to power last May, has announced a mentally flawed system, and may merely push
plan to upgrade 600 government schools to the status of this burning concern under the carpet.”
Karnataka Public Schools (KPS) by March 2024. On Oc- V. Raghunathan, former IIM-Ahmedabad professor,
tober 7, Madhu Bangarappa, minister for school educa- on news reports that the IIMs are set to introduce
tion and literacy, announced that the state government reservations in their Ph D programmes (Deccan
will upgrade 3,000 government schools to KPS status in Herald, November 10)
a phased manner over the next five years.
Conceptualised in 2018-19, KPS are designed to “Disappointment with education has grown in
“serve as model schools, equipped with best in-class recent years. Russia’s war with Ukraine and
facilities, incorporating primary, secondary and pre- the ongoing destruction of Gaza raise serious
university institutions”. The biggest draw of KPS schools questions about the power of education to
is that they provide English-medium instruction cf. inculcate basic good sense. Russia, Israel and
government schools where medium of instruction is the US are among the most educated nations
Kannada or the vernacular mother tongue. Currently,
276 KPS schools are operational statewide. of the world, but they have failed to use educa-
The immediate provocation for this announcement tion to nurture peace.”
is a noteworthy dip in student enrolment in govern- Dr. Krishna Kumar, former director of NCERT, in an
ment schools this academic year, which has declined essay titled ‘The impact of violence on a child’s mind’
from 4.54 million in 2022-23 to 4.29 million in 2023- (The Hindu, November 24)
24. Conversely, student numbers in private schools has
risen from 4.5 million in 2022-23 to 4.64 million in “Most Indian higher education institutions
2023-24. have not focused on such collaborations (in-
Medium of instruction apart, the general condition dustry-academia) or on intellectual property
of government schools in Karnataka (pop. 63 million) is and technology transfers. While universities
pathetic. The Karnataka conduct and encourage basic research, many
high court has repeat- of them do not capitalise on the same research
edly reprimanded the by commercializing their IP; they miss out
state government for not on potential gains from patents, licensing or
providing basic facilities start-up companies.”
such as drinking water
and toilets in public/ M Jagadesh Kumar, Chairman, UGC on academia-
industry co-operation and collaboration (The Hindu,
government schools. November 30)
Recently, the court cited
the Central government’s “Today smog is everywhere. Count the con-
Unified District Informa- Madhu Bangarappa centration of suspended particulate matter,
tion System for Education
(UDISE) data to the effect that 823 government schools and 10 Indian cities figure in the global Top
lack drinking water facilities and 464 don’t have toilets. 12. Mumbai has entered our new dystopian
While welcoming the government’s initiative to up- future: its rising skyline has blocked off wind
grade 600 public schools to KPS status by next March, from the sea, and the megalopolis has seen its
B.S. Rishikesh, head, Hub for Education, Law and dirtiest winter this year.”
Policy, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, is scepti- Aroon Purie, Editor, on new perils of pollution (India
cal about the government achieving this modest target. Today, December 11)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2023