Page 39 - PR Communication Age - JUNE 2016
P. 39
Education
News
Mother tongue as medium migrant society, the centrality of Chris- graduate courses from existing Rs.
of instruction till high tianity is an accepted fact. 90,000 to Rs. 2 lakh, a rise of 122 per
school cent, for new enrollments from the
Quality higher education upcoming academic session.
The government has favoured making should be made afford-
the mother tongue the medium of in- able: Rajan The HRD Ministry has also decided to
struction up to high school, even as it give a total fee waiver for the differently
underlined the need for promotion of Reserve Bank of India governor abled, students from SC and ST commu-
Hindi. "Medium of instruction should Raghuram Rajan said that efforts nity, and those belonging to families with
be the mother tongue up to a particu- should be made to make quality higher annual income less than Rs. 1 lakh, offi-
lar class. education affordable and cautioned cials in the Ministry said. Students from
students to be careful of "unscrupulous families with annual income of less than
The country has to evolve a consensus schools" that left alumni with high debt Rs. 5 lakh will also be entitled to a waiver
and all state governments should work and "useless degrees". of two-third amount.
in that direction of making it manda-
tory to have mother tongue up to at Rajan said while banks must be care- The decision to hike the fee has been
least high school," Union Urban Devel- ful to ensure that student loans were taken by the HRD Ministry following a
opment and Parliamentary Affairs Min- repaid in full, there needed to be con- proposal by a high-level IIT panel. A
ister M Venkaiah Naidu said. cessions for those who fell upon bad proposal for three-fold increase in tu-
times or opted for public service jobs. ition fee was first introduced before
Hinduism must be central the Standing Committee at its meet-
to religious studies "We have to be careful that student ing in Mumbai in October last year, but
loans are repaid in full by those who it was referred to an expert commit-
Mark Tully's article Religious studies can have the means, while they are for- tee comprising IIT directors.
keep secularism alive in India makes a given in part for those who fall on bad
valid case for such courses in Indian times or those who take low-paying Sweeper gets MPhil de-
universities. A study of all religions is the public service jobs," Rajan said. gree; wants PhD now
need of the hour. But, for the success
of multi-religious studies in this country, Studying at IITs will cost as A sweeper with the Brihanmumbai
there is a need for secularists to accept high as Rs 2 lakh Municipal Corporation has secured an
the centrality of Hinduism, broadly de- MPhil from the Tata Institute of Social
fined. Religious studies in Britain are Studying at prestigious IITs will now be Sciences. Sunil Yadav, 36, aims to pur-
dependent on the centrality of Chris- costlier with the government deciding sue a PhD to understand the problems
tianity. Even in the US, which is an im- to increase the annual fees for under- of the sweeper community.
“Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.”
PR COMMUNICATION AGE June 2016 39
