Page 8 - Education World September 2021

Editorial

CASE FOR PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNANCE SYSTEM tarial assistance. This remuneration is
supplemented with lavish perks such
as free housing, motorcars, 34 free air-
n the 75th year of political freedom Parliament, in the recently concluded tickets per year, free train travel, elec-
from almost two centuries of ex- 17-day monsoon session, the Lok tricity and phone bills etc. Moreover,
Iploitative British rule, the world’s Sabha conducted orderly business for every minute when Parliament is in
most populous democracy is running a mere 21 of its scheduled 96 hours, session costs the exchequer Rs.2.5-3
out of steam. Institutions established and the Rajya Sabha (upper house of lakh by way of administrative expense.
as the republic’s pillars of democratic elders and intellectuals) only 28 of its This circus is too expensive for a coun-
governance are crumbling because of scheduled 97.5 hours. try with a per capita income of $2,000
political irresponsibility and public This was because the ruling BJP/ equivalent.
indifference. Neither the executive, NDA government and opposition If after 75 years of practising de-
Parliament, police-judicial system parties failed to agree on the daily de- mocracy, MPs — one-third of whom
nor the media — the so-called fourth bates agenda. The opposition, notably have grave criminal charges filed
estate — are in good health. The sys- the Congress wanted the government against them — still haven’t learned
tem of institutional checks and bal- to schedule debates on the Pegasus parliamentary decorum, it’s plain they
ances mandated by the Constitution spyware issue and mismanagement are beyond redemption. Perpetual
is rapidly becoming dysfunctional of the Covid-19 pandemic, whereas parliamentary furore provides a good
with Parliament in perpetual chaos, the government had other legislation reason to switch to the presidential
and the judiciary and media unable enactment priorities. It’s an indicator form of governance with a popularly
to control the executive at the Centre of deep polarisation within the politi- elected president free to choose the
or in states. The republic is sliding into cal class that leaders of both houses country’s most competent profession-
anarchy and autocracy. of Parliament are unable to agree on als to serve as cabinet members, with
These grim forebodings are evoked orderly conduct of debates. Parliament having the option to ratify
by the almost total inability of Parlia- It’s important to note that MPs or reject presidential legislation after
ment to discharge its constitutional staging angry protests and fooling deliberation and debate.
responsibility to rationally debate is- around costs the public exchequer Orderly migration to the presiden-
sues of national importance and for- heavily. MPs are paid Rs.50,000 per tial system will result in tight, intel-
mulate policies and laws for effective month as salary, Rs.45,000 as con- ligent legislation and save the courts
governance. According to data provid- stituency allowance, Rs.15,000 as of- and hapless public a great deal of time,
ed by the secretariats of both houses of fice expenses and Rs.30,000 for secre- money and inconvenience.

POLYGLOT ENGINEERING EDUCATION DANGERS neering colleges which were initially
chosen by the Union education min-
istry to kickstart the engineering edu-
he central government’s green- ondary textbooks in most of India’s cation in regional languages scheme,
light to 14 engineering colleges 22 major languages have not yet been have outrightly rejected this proposal.
Tin eight states to offer engi- written. The same is true of higher Champions of Hindi and vernacu-
neering degree programmes in five education. Therefore, to pitch ill-pre- lar languages as media of instruction
regional languages (Hindi, Tamil, pared vernacular school-leavers into often cite the examples of linguisti-
Telugu, Marathi and Bengali) from the sub-standard vernacular engineering cally homogenous countries — Ja-
new academic year 2021-22 is further programmes is a recipe for disaster. pan, Germany and China — as mod-
proof of myopic politicians rushing in The automated, artificial intelligence- els of successful education in mother
where they should fear to tread. based translation of textbooks of en- tongue. However it needs reminding
On July 29 —the first anniversary of gineering subjects propagated by the that India has 22 major languages
the release of the National Education Delhi-based All India Council for listed in the Constitution. Promoting
Policy (NEP) 2020 — prime minister Technical Education (AICTE) to fa- engineering education in numerous
Narendra Modi justified this proposal cilitate delivery of study programmes languages even if successful, may
on the grounds that “this emphasis on in the five regional languages are sub- result in engineers from India’s 29
mother tongue as the medium of in- standard, literal translations of course states — each with separate and dis-
struction will instill confidence in the texts. The plain truth is that post-in- tinct vernaculars — not being able to
students from poor, rural and tribal dependence India’s neglected educa- work cooperatively on nation-build-
backgrounds”. But while this proposal tion system hasn’t produced anywhere ing projects.
will serve the purpose of inclusivity, near enough engineering graduates One of the significant advantages
self-evidently no serious cerebration proficient in English as well as native that India enjoys over China and Afro-
has been invested in implementation languages, capable of skillfully trans- Asian countries is widespread knowl-
capability. lating English textbooks into regional edge of English, the language of inter-
Engineering is a complex subject languages. national and national business, trade
that requires good grounding in phys- This explains why faculty of the and industry. This advantage should
ics, chemistry and maths in pre-colle- country’s 23 Indian Institutes of Tech- not be frittered away. Therefore, this
giate education. It’s hardly a national nology (IITs), unanimously acknowl- hare-brained idea should be rejected
secret that good quality primary-sec- edged as the country’s premier engi- forthwith.

8 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2021