Page 20 - Education World September 2021

Education News

their children have suffered during the past 15 months THEY SAID IT IN AUGUST
could blight their future. Hence the determined but cau-
tious schools reopening initiative of the DMK government “We watch in complete shock as the Taliban
is receiving widespread appreciation. takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply
Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai)
worried about women, minorities and human
WEST BENGAL rights advocates. Global, regional and local
Snowballing protest powers must call for an immediate ceasefire,
provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect
refugees and civilians.”
stablished by nobel laureate, savant and litterateur Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, on the capture of
Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941) as an abode for Afghanistan by Taliban (Twitter, August 15)
Estudents from around the world, Visva-Bharati
University, Santiniketan (VBU, estb.1918) has been “Deeply rooted with Indian ethos yet modern
mired in controversy and continuous turmoil since Dr. in outlook India’s NEP—its policy framework,
Bidyut Chakrabarty, former professor of political sci-
ence at Delhi University, assumed office as vice chancel- implementation strategy, outcomes and
lor in November 2018. role in the betterment of human society
The charges levelled against Chakrabarty — an alum- will serve as a case study for global policy
nus of the London School of Economics who taught makers.”
at Delhi University for 20 years — include autocratic Dharmendra Pradhan, Union minister for education,
decision-making, destroying cultural and social com- congratulating the Karnataka state government for
munication between VBU and Santiniketan residents, implementing NEP 2020 (Twitter, August 23)
sustained endeavour to alienate, exclude and ostracise
people from beyond Bolpur district by labelling them “The pandemic itself can be a starting point
outsiders, routinely delaying salaries and pensions of for inquiry-based learning: Children can
4,000 present and be encouraged, within the safe space of
past employees of this their learning circles, to discuss what they
Central government-
funded varsity, and saw, experienced and learned during the
attempting to “saffro- pandemic.”
nise” VBU. Uma Mahadevan Dasgupta, principal secretary for
Simmering unrest rural development (Karnataka state) on why the
on the VBU campus post-pandemic school is an opportunity to reinvent
boiled over on Au- learning (The Indian Express, August 24)
gust 23, when varsity
authorities rusticated “If those who take tuitions get an edge to get
leaders of Visva- in while others don’t, what is our education
Bharati Student’s Unity system testing? How rich your parents
(VBSU), a students’ are? And the time spent to score 99 instead
organisation, for “gross Dr. Bidyut Chakrabarty of 97 could have been used to learn a new
indiscipline and mis- skill, which would also make one more
conduct”. Besides three student leaders, two professors
have also been suspended. After suspension of these employable.”
professors, the number of teachers and staff under sus- Chetan Bhagat, well-known author, on India’s tuition
pension at the university during Chakrabarty’s tenure pandemic (Times of India, August 28)
has risen to 20.
According to VBU insiders, the roots of the latest “... it was in this ashram that at least three
protests that have disrupted the peace in Santiniketan, history-changing movements were born...
can be traced back to the suspension of Dr. Sudipta No government of any party should ‘shape’
Bhattacharya, professor of economics at the univer- Sabarmati Asharm, least of all one opposed
sity and president of the VBU Faculty Association, on to Gandhi’s core goals.”
the flimsy charge of ‘maligning’ the university, against
which the professor has filed a writ petition pending in Rajmohan Gandhi, historian, opposing government
plans to transform Sabarmati Ashram into a “world-
the Calcutta high court. class memorial” (India Today, August 23)

20 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2021