Page 22 - EW April 2021

Education News

dis and primaries. THEY SAID IT IN MARCH
That’s why our sur-
vey which focused “It is clear it is time for me to leave Ashoka. A
on low-income liberal university will need a liberal political
households, shows and social context to flourish. I hope the uni-
an overwhelming versity will play a role in securing that envi-
preference for re- ronment. Nietzsche once said that ‘no living
opening of schools,”
he explains. for truth is possible in a university.’ I hope that
The diametrically prophecy does not come true... ”
opposite conclu- Pratap Bhanu Mehta in March 15 letter of resignation
sion of the Local- from Ashoka University.
Circles survey which
indicates that 62 Dr. Niranjanaradhya “e party is in disarray. It is bereft of cadre
percent of parents and leaders on the ground. Worse, Brand Gan-
in the state prefer their children to learn from home dhi, the glue that once held the party together,
is because of the profile of respondents. All parents has lost its stickiness and its currency in the
interviewed had annual household incomes above Rs.3 electoral marketplace.”
lakh with half reporting incomes of over Rs.6 lakh. Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief, on the decline of the
Quite obviously, these households are well-equipped Congress party (India Today, March 15)
with Internet connectivity and digital devices (comput-
ers, laptops, Smart phones) with children enrolled in “Founder-trustees of Ashoka University
upscale private schools that have smoothly transitioned
to online learning. Unsurprisingly, they prefer their today stand exposed as spineless hypocritical
children to learn from home until the worst of the pan- businessmen who, to borrow Ramachandra
demic is over. Guha’s words, preferred to crawl as soon as
ith poor, income-stressed, and working class they could sense the gusts of changing wind.
Whouseholds clearly in favour of reopening of ey are now left with a tattered fig leaf to
public and affordably priced budget private schools cover their collective shame.”
— these households/families constitute a majority in Pushpesh Pant, former professor of JNU, Delhi, on the
Karnataka — the dithering of the BJP government of resignation of Dr. Pratap Bhanu Mehta from Ashoka
the state has dismayed educationists. On January 29, University (Indian Express, March 28)
ten months after all education institutions nationwide
were ordered to be shutdown, the state government “We are distressed to learn of Pratap Bhanu
permitted in-school classes for senior and higher Mehta’s resignation under political pressure
secondary (classes IX-XII) students. Almost a month from Ashoka University. A prominent critic
later, it allowed on-campus classes for VI-VIII children. of the current Indian government and de-
However with Karnataka experiencing a second surge in
Covid-19 positive cases in March, most upscale private fender of academic freedom, he had become a
schools have reverted to online classes with the state’s target for his writings. It seems that Ashoka’s
49,637 government schools reporting 30-40 percent Trustees, who should have treated defending
attendance in classes VI-VIII even as pre-primaries and him as their institutional duty, instead all but
primary schools remain shut. forced his resignation,”
Meanwhile, a study published by the Bangalore- Open letter from 150 academics of foreign universities
based Azim Premji University covering five states
including Karnataka, shows that 92 percent of children “Despite the remarkable size of the educa-
enrolled in public (government) class II-VI primaries tional ecosystem in India, we have successful-
have lost the learning of previous years in language, and ly ensured that every child living in the remot-
82 percent in mathematics.
Dithering on the issue of re-opening schools by the est parts of the country continues to receive
state government — in some European countries, they education even in the times of pandemic. We
have not closed at all during the pandemic — is certain have used digital, television, radio to ensure
to cost Karnataka’s already under-schooled children that no child is deprived of education.”
heavily. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Union education minister,
Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) speaking at a Unesco meeting (March 31)

24 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2021