Education in India

Parliamentary Roundup - Teacher shortage, NOC for CBSE schools, Data on GER & edu expenditure as % of GDP

A round up of recent answers by the Minstry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) to questions raised in the Lok Sabha, relating to education.

 

Details on the shortage of school teachers in India (state-wise)

Out of 19.84 lakh sanctioned teacher posts under SSA, 14.8 lakh teachers have been recruited and another 5.04 lakh are yet to be recruited as on Sep, 30, 2013.  Bihar (1.75 lakh to be recruited) and U.P (1.24 lakh) are the farthest behind.

(Source: Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 188 Answered on 18.12.2013)

 

On use of NCERT vs private publishers' textbooks in CBSE schools

"The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has, since 2005-06, directed all its affiliated schools to refrain from recommending the books of private publishers in different subjects at the senior secondary level. The CBSE now prescribes only the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) published books for classes IX to XII."

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 2101 Answered on 18.12.2013

 

On the requirement of an NOC from the State Government concerned for affiliation of a private school with CBSE NOC from the State Government concerned for affiliation of a private school with CBSE.

"The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) no longer requires an NOC from the State Government. CBSE has amended its Affiliation Bye-Laws which state that the school seeking provisional affiliation with the Board must have prior recognition of the State/UT Government. The applicant School has to also produce evidence to this effect that they had intimated the concerned Education Department of the State/UT about the application made to the CBSE for seeking affiliation with the Board. In case of receipt of any objection during the process of application of the school, the Board may ask the concerned school to produce the No Objection Certificate from the State/UT Government. Otherwise it would be assumed that concerned State/UT Government has no objection.

The newly amended provision ensures authentication of the facts and credentials of the private school as the applicant school is required to seek recognition from the State/UT Government prior to submitting its application for seeking affiliation from the Board. The Board also physically inspects the applicant school to assess its suitability before the grant of affiliation." 

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 2140 Answered on 18.12.2013)

 

On the proposal to open Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode; the norms laid down for opening of KVs in the country; the number of KVs functioning in the country along with the students enrolled in these KVs, State/ UT-wise

"The Board of Governors of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) in its 91st meeting held on 19.01.2012 has taken a policy decision that the scheme of opening of new Kendriya Vidyalayas under the Public Private Parternership (PPP mode) is not in line with the mandate of the KVS." 

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 2199 Answered on 18.12.2013)

"Presently 1091 KVs are functioning in the country." -  State/UT-wise details along with enrollment data and norms for opening new KVs.

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 1115 Answered on 11.12.2013)

 

Detailed data on the gross-enrolment rate* (GER) of children in primary, upper-primary, secondary and senior secondary levels in the country during 2008-09 to 2010-11, state-wise, year-wise and gender-wise.

For India as a whole, GER is

• 116.7 at the Primary level (Class I-V);
• 83.1 at the Upper Primary level (Class VI-VIII);
• 60.8 at the Secondary level (Class IX-X) and
• 36.1 at the Senior Secondary Level (Class XI-XII)

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 2296 Answered on 18.12.2013)

 

On the overall government expenditure on Education (Centre + States) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) during last three years, comparison with the same figures for other countries and why the goal of spending at least 6% of GDP hasn't been achieved.

Overall government expenditure on Education (Centre + States) as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

• 3.95%  -  2009-10
• 4.20%  -  2010-11 (Revised Estimate)
• 4.17%  -  2011-12 (Budget Estimate)

"As per the figures published by the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) in its publication titled, “Global Education Digest 2012”, the share of education in Gross Domestic Product in some other countries were U.S.A.(5.4%), U.K.(5.6%), Japan (3.8%), Australia (5.1%), Russian Federation (4.1%), Egypt (3.8%), Azerbaijan (3.2%), Georgia (3.2%), Tajikistan (4.0%), Hong Kong SAR of China (3.6 %), Thailand (3.8%), Peru (2.7%), Jamaica (6.1%), Pakistan (2.4%), Bangladesh (2.2%), Ethiopia (4.7%), United Republic of Tanzania (6.2%) and Zambia (1.3%) during 2010.

During the XII Five Year Plan, the Ministry of Human Resource Development have been allocated a sum of Rs.4,53,728 crore (Rs.3,43,028 crore for the Department of School Education & Literacy and Rs.1,10,700 crore for the Department of Higher Education) as compared to actual expenditure in XI Five Year Plan which was Rs.1,77,566.86 crore (Rs.1,37,920.04 crore for the Department of School Education & Literacy and Rs.39,646.82 crore for Department of Higher Education). This increase in central plan outlay for education represents a very substantial effort on the part of the Central Government for raising public spending on education towards the national goal of spending 6% of GDP for education. Overall progress towards this goal, would however, also depend on the efforts made by the States and the private sector.

This increase in central plan outlay for education represents a very substantial effort on the part of the Central Government for raising public spending on education towards the national goal of spending 6% of GDP for education. Overall progress towards this goal, would however, also depend on the efforts made by the States and the private sector."

(Source: Lok Sabha UnStarred Question No. 1085 Answered on 11.12.2013)

Teacher Eligibility Test for all school teachers in India

Qualifying in a Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) is now mandatory for all existing and aspiring primary and middle school teachers in the country, with the passing of the Right To Education Act. The National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) has published the guidelines for conducting the TET, providing complete details about rationale for the test, eligibility to take the test, the structure and syllabus for the test, the type of questions that would be asked  and the marks required to qualify as a teacher.

To be eligible to take the CTET or any other TET conducted by the states, one has to have a degree in education (B.Ed or D. Ed) or be on the verge of completing a degree in the year of taking the test. Teachers will need to take the TET within a period of 5 years from the time the TET is first notified. This kind of a qualifying test can help improve the quality of teachers right from the recruitment stage.

The Central Government and many States have begun conducting the TET. The Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) was conducted by the CBSE for the first time in June 2011. The next CTET will be held on January 29, 2012. Here's how the CTET web site describes the Test.

It had been inter alia provided that one of the essential qualifications for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher in any of the schools referred to in clause (n) of section 2 of the Right To Education Act is that he/ she should pass the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) which will be conducted by the appropriate Government in accordance with the Guidelines framed by the NCTE.

The rationale for including the TET as a minimum qualification for a person to be eligible for appointment as a teacher is as under:

• It would bring national standards and benchmark of teacher quality in the recruitment process.
• It would induce teacher education institutions and students from these institutions to further improve their performance standards.
• It would send a positive signal to all stakeholders that the Government lays special emphasis on teacher quality.

The aggregate results of CTET 2011 are available thanks to a question raised in the Lok Sabha by the MP, Priya Sunil Dutt. Two papers were held as part of CTET 2011, one for those who wish to become a teacher in classes I to V and another for those who wish to become a teacher in classes VI to VIII. 

Aggregate results from the CTET conducted by CBSE in June 2011

	Paper-I (Classes I to V)			Paper-II (Classes VI to VIII)
Category	Appeared	Qualified	% Qualified	Appeared	Qualified	% Qualified
General	255,480	35,768	14%	254,612	29,931	12%
SC	100,837	3,601	4%	92,996	2,383	3%
ST	30,435	515	2%	21,812	389	2%
OBC	213,001	14,864	7%	199,069	10,468	5%
Total	599,753	54,748	9%	568,489	43,171	8%

According to the aggregate data provided by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development, D. Purandeswari, less than 10% of those who took the tests were able to qualify. There is no indication of how many of those who qualified were existing teachers.

Priya Sunil Dutt, in her question, had also asked whether, to protect the interests of SC & ST candidates, the Government proposes to prescribe lower marks/ qualifying standard in future and retrospectively to CTET 2011. The Minister, D. Purandeswari, responded saying,

The CBSE has issued certificates and statements of marks to candidates of all categories securing marks 60% and above. Appointing authorities can consider giving concessions to persons belonging to SC/ST/OBC/differently abled category in accordance with respective reservation policies.

It would be good if the National Council of Teacher Education (NCTE) and the respective State Councils of Teacher Education publish a list on their web sites of all teachers who have qualified in the TET conducted by them, just as the Medical Council of India, publishes a list of all qualified doctors. This would also help students wanting to do a B.Ed or D.Ed in selecting those teacher training colleges that do a good job in training teachers to qualify. The teacher training colleges could also be asked to publish on their web sites the percentage of their students who have qualified in the TETs.

The Tamil Nadu Government notified the Tamil Nadu Teacher Eligibility Test recently and put out a Government Order based on the NCTE guidelines. There are a few points that I am still unsure about after reading the Tamil Nadu Government Order.

• The G.O. says "The teachers working in unaided private schools are required to pass Teacher Eligibility Test within 5 years." I presume all teachers currently working in Government schools or Government-aided schools will also need to pass the test within 5 years, but am not sure about it. The G.O. states that teachers can be recruited henceforth only if they have qualified in the TET.
• The G.O. says "The Validity Period of the TET qualifying certificate for appointment will be decided by the appropriate Government subject to a maximum of seven years for all categories." Does this mean that every Teacher will have take the test again after seven years?
• Since the RTE Act only applies to children of 6-14 years of age, are high school and higher secondary school teachers exempt from taking the TET? If so, the NCTE could come up with guidelines for another similar TET for teachers teaching classes IX - XII.



Periscope 3: Biometric fingerprint scanners for teachers, Professors turn entrepreneurs, Revolutionising education?

• Biometric fingerprint scanners in schools - not for students, but for teachers! 

The Haryana government has decided to introduce biometric fingerprint scanners in around 2,622 government schools across the State in an effort to keep a check on teachers and deal with increasing absenteeism. [FutureGov]

• Humanities professors turn entrepreneurs! - spot opportunity in humanities education amidst budget cuts for state colleges and set up the New College of the Humanities [Economic Times]

• Experiential learning: College students set up and run a business on campus at PSG Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. The responsibility for the business is passed down to junior batches as the seniors graduate. An excellent hands-on entrepreneurial experience for the students during their college years. [Livemint]

• Technology and the Internet are going to revolutionise higher education - but how?

"I have a vision for where this is going to go," [Gagan] Biyani [Udemy's co-founder] tells me. "The price of college is going to fall, and the Internet is going to cause that fall." He pauses and adds, "The rest of it is really difficult to figure out."

But will the revolution be led by the colleges? Unlikely, says Derek Thompson.

Colleges rarely think about efficiency, because all the signals tell them to spend more money on fewer students. Theoretically, the most efficient school would give the highest quality education to the most people for the lowest price. In reality, national rankings reward universities for rejecting the highest number of applicants, teaching the fewest number of students per class, and spending the most per capita on resources. That doesn't mean colleges are failing. It means the system suffers from an incentive to be inefficient. [The Atlantic]

Conscription to solve the shortage of teachers

Janmejaya Sinha and Anita Kishore propose conscription as a way to find 20 lakh teachers in India quickly.

An accompanying idea comes out of the success, though at a modest level, of a programme like Teach For India. Teach For India takes bright college graduates and young professional and gets them to commit two years of their life to teach full-time in under-resourced schools. Given the urgency and the enormity of the challenge, my idea is a bit more radical. Can we introduce conscription for education in the country?

Currently, there are 1.35 crore students enrolled in 26,000 colleges in the country. About 1.2 crore of these students are enrolled in graduate programmes. There are another 50,000 or so Indian students who are studying in universities abroad. If we can find 20 lakh potential teachers from this pool of students, we can at once meet our right-to-education guidelines and increase our teacher supply by 40%.

It will be important to recognise that we will need teachers who can teach in the regional languages and there may be some gaps in this, but combined with the use of standardised digital content, we can ensure that quality education is not compromised when students are being recruited en masse into teaching. We could select these 20 lakh students on the basis of grades and offer them tax concession equivalent to two years of a teacher's salary as incentive. If they wish not to teach, they should have to pay two years of teacher's salary to opt out. Those that are not selected for this conscription are not given a tax break.

An idea worthy of consideration. The pros and cons need to be debated. But as always, in India, the challenges will be in implementation.

 

 

 

 

 

A fly on the wall view of a teacher being evaluated

Michelle Rhee, the former Chancellor of the Washington D.C. school district introduced IMPACT, a teacher evaluation model that has generated strong opinions both for and against it and is serving as a model for many other school districts in America. Teachers who did well could look forward to pay increases, which were tied to merit and not seniority. But teachers could also be asked to leave if they didn't measure up to the standards expected after an evaluation of their performance based on a detailed set of criteria indicated to them in advance.

The Washington Post describes an agonizing conversation between Eric Bethel, a master educator and Clay Harris, an elementary math teacher in Washington D.C. as part of the IMPACT teacher evaluation process (Hat tip - Eduwonk). Mr. Bethel is discussing the effectiveness of Mr. Harris' teaching at the end of the day after observing Mr. Harris in class. The end result of this conversation would play a role when the final decision is made on whether Mr. Harris can keep his job or not. Go read the entire piece. 

The last bit of their conversation is quite poignant.

Bethel gave him the final score, which was low. If the trend continued, Harris realized, he could lose his job.

"It's just - I don't feel that I'm putting in 'minimally effective' effort at all," he said.

For Bethel, this was most excruciating part of the job. He began shutting off his computer.

"This does not measure your effort," he said, packing his bag. "But I do see your effort, Mr. Harris."

"So - what is this measuring?" Harris asked.

"It's measuring the effectiveness of that effort," Bethel said. "This is not a reflection of your passion for education, your love for students. Not at all."

Which for Harris was precisely the problem and for Bethel was part of a difficult, painful solution.

As he left, Bethel offered to help Harris with lesson planning, a gesture that would not count on Bethel's own evaluation. Harris leaned back in the little chair. He pursed his lips.

"I don't think you're being personally unfair, it's just - " he paused. "I'm going to look over it again. I know where I could improve. So. Yeah. It was nice talking to you."

Mr. Bethel, during the course of his evaluation, makes a very important point. It is the effectiveness of the effort that matters - are children learning at the end of the day? There is a general tendency to mix up the effort with the effectiveness of the effort. I often hear people say that someone is trying really hard and giving his/her best efforts and so it is not fair to blame him/her for poor results. While one may appreciate the person's effort and commitment, if the person isn't good at his/her work in terms of results, even after being trained, there's not much one can say in that person's defence. Imagine a cricketer, a heart surgeon, a rocket scientist, a lawyer, a musician or a corporate executive or anyone else who tries really hard, but isn't able to produce results. What would we expect to do if we were in the position of making the decision on whether to continue with them or not?

It is an entirely different matter that cricketers, heart surgeons, rocket scientists, lawyers, musicians or corporate executives and others who produce results in their respective fields are highly acclaimed and feted and rewarded. Sadly, that's not the case with great teachers. We don't even seem to make an effort to identify great teachers. We can easily name the most nationally acclaimed contemporary cricketers, heart surgeons, rocket scientists, lawyers, musicians or corporate executives today, but can you name a contemporary teacher who is famous and well known as a great teacher across the country today?

Evaluating teachers is the first step in recognising talented teachers and rewarding them. The ultimate test of a teacher is to ensure that children learn. Just as reality music shows on TV in India have been very successful at unearthing musical talent across the country, a reality television show for teachers may be the way to do bring teaching talent into public view, show everyone what a great teacher can do and also turn the best teachers into national stars.

Democratising the quality of education for all children in India

Of the four ideas that I talked about in my TED Talk titled Education for All - More of the Same or Something Different? on December 13th, 2010 at TEDx Kumaun, the fourth idea was about democratising the quality of education for all children in India.

Our focus in terms of achieving the goal of providing an Education for All continues to be on the following:

• enrollment - ensuring every single child goes to a school,
• attendance - ensuring the child attends school everyday and
• time spent and completion - ensuring the child spends a certain number of hours per day at school and a certain number of years in school and is deemed to have completed schooling.

We haven't yet paid enough attention to the quality aspect of education. While Enrollment, Attendance and Completion are important, it is paramount that every child gets a high quality education. To determine if that is indeed happening, we need to focus on learning outcomes and constantly keep testing to see if children are learning and taking appropriate steps based on the results of the tests so that every child learns what it ought to have learnt by the time it leaves school.

The quality of education or learning outcomes is integrally linked to the quality of teachers, especially so for the large number of first generation learners who won’t be able to get any support from their own parents at home. Great teachers can make a huge difference to a child. A recent study by Eric Hanushek of Stanford University attempts to quantify the value of a great teacher and also the value lost in the case of poor teachers.

But not every school has great teachers. What can we do to ensure that every single child in India has access to great teachers, thereby democratising the quality of education for all children across the country?

There are many excellent teachers in India today and they have been doing a great job unsung and unnoticed for years. A few of these teachers are identified and recognized with “Best Teacher” awards at the state and national levels every year. For a start, we could pick these award-winning teachers and create video recordings of all these teachers teaching in their own classes in the various Indian languages. These video recordings could then be broadcast on television and also put up on YouTube and other web sites for children and other current and aspiring teachers to watch. We could also study these videos to try and understand the traits, methods and skill sets of good teachers to help create many more good teachers.

How do we identify teachers with great potential? How do we attract good teachers to the teaching profession?

Imagine a reality show for teachers on television to unearth teaching talent from across the country and showcase it to the national audience of children. Existing and aspiring teachers can be invited to come forward to teach on prime time television, in all the Indian languages. Imagine them teaching Algebra, Poetry, the History of the Indus Valley Civilization, Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, The Structure of the Atom and more. Along with a panel of eminent teachers as judges in the studio, children and parents sitting at home and watching these teachers on television can also rate and vote for the best teachers. The best teachers could become national stars and celebrities.

Every child in the country will have access to these programmes either on television or on YouTube or other similar sites. Not only will children realize that the best teachers can make every subject interesting and fascinating, they will also begin to expect the same high standards of teaching from their own teachers in their schools. Teachers from all across the country will also be able to watch and learn from the best in their profession. While good teachers ought to be paid as well as other professions if not more, this kind of national recognition for good teachers can play a huge role in making teaching an attracive and fulfilling profession.

I had described the other ideas that I spoke about in my TED Talk in earlier posts.

• Background
• Taking a leaf out of the Government’s own RSBY Project
• Opening up education to for-profit entities
• The need for political innovation to make education a top political priority.

What's wrong with schools in America? A documentary attempts to explain.

I want to watch Waiting for Superman, the documentary that's just released in America. 

 

 

This bit about the situation in America from a review of the documentary in New York Magazine drives home a harsh reality that is far more stark in the Indian context.

A real revolution in education will require a more foundational change-one that addresses the way in which the nation goes about turning people into teachers in the first place.

The ridiculousness of how we do it now is a bugbear of Geoff Canada's. "We say to these young people, 'We're going to make a deal with you,' " he explains. " 'We are not going to pay you a lot of money, but we are going to give you a lot of time off. You'll always get home before dark. You won't work weekends, and you'll have every summer off.' It's a terrible message we're sending that these perks come with their job. What kind of people does that attract to the profession?"

The answer to Canada's question is distressing and depressing. Whereas the best public-school systems in the world-Finland, Singapore, South Korea-recruit all of their teachers from the top third or better of their college graduates, in America the majority come from the bottom two-thirds, with just 14 percent of those entering teaching each year in high-needs schools coming from the upper third. And the numbers may be getting worse. According to a recent survey conducted by McKinsey, a meager 9 percent of top-third graduates have any interest in teaching whatsoever.

I think the corresponding numbers in India may be far worse. Much food for thought for us on how to address the challenges in India.

Here's a link to the McKinsey Survey referred to in the review - Closing the talent gap: Attracting and retaining top-third graduates to careers in teaching.

An earlier McKinsey report in 2007 titled How the world's best school systems stay on top summed up the challenge by stating "the quality of an education system can't exceed the quality of its teachers."

Details about the Azim Premji University

I met my friend KS Viswanathan, the head of new initiatives at the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) a couple of days ago in Bangalore and asked him for some details about the Azim Premji University (APU). This is what I learnt from an informal chat with him.

• The APU will be an institution of excellence in the area of education to develop outstanding education thinkers & leaders, and also serve as a think tank for long-term education change and sustainable development. Akin to the IITs, AIIMS, IIMs and the NLSUI respectively focussed on Science & Technology, Medicine, Management and Law, the APU will in effect be an IIE focussed on Education.
• The APU's vision is to promote, conceptualize and create a paradigm shift through development of outstanding leadership, research, knowledge and ideas for education and allied development sectors.
• The objectives of the APU include
  • Creating Intellectual Capital: through research based theory and outstanding, creative and socially committed leaders and thinkers. Expand the frontiers of knowledge in education and allied disciplines
  • Practice informed by sound theory: Serve as a national education resource center and present an alternative authentic voice for educational and social change
  • Demonstrating models for effective development of teachers and education leaders
• The APU has been set up through a section 25 company and will be autonomous and self-funded with no dependency on funds from the Karnataka Government.
• The Azim Premji University Ordinance 2009, was passed by the Karnataka Government in November 2009.
• The APU is being set up on 50 acres of land in Sarjapur, near Bangalore. The land is being provided by the section 25 company, which is acquiring it directly from the owners.
• It will be a fully residential university.
• The APU will not be aiming to recover all its expenditure from tuition fees. Any budgetary gap between income and expenditure will be bridged by funds provided by Section 25 company being established by Azim Premji.
• The first students will join the university in 2011. The APU will start by offering masters level courses and eventually also run a Ph.D. program.
• Apart from the classroom lectures, the students at the APU will be required to do field work in schools as an integral part of their learning.
• The APU, in addition to developing education professionals and contributing to research will work towards strengthening the educational space by:
  • Increasing the public debate on alternative approaches towards educational excellence
  • Creating possibilities and opportunities to promote innovation and piloting of new ideas/approaches
  • Supporting state and central governments to move towards a quality education revolution
  • Serving as a resource centre for the country in the areas of education and development
  • Emerging as a centre of excellence in education policy and implementation

The Azim Premji University, a pioneering initiative in India

The Azim Premji Foundation (APF) is planning to set up the Azim Premji University (APU) a private self-financing university in Karnataka that would undertake teaching, training and R & D in fields like elementary and secondary education,education management and education policy. The APF will provide the statutory endowment fund of Rs. 25 crores. The University, while based in Karnataka will open branches elesewhere in the country. The Azim Premji University Bill is to be introduced in the Karnataka Assembly in the upcoming session, says the The Economic Times.

According to Business Line,

• The University will be self-financed, with no financial grant or assistance from the State Government
  
• Implying that reservations could apply to this university, a note issued during the meeting said that while it would be "open to all classes, castes and gender, the Government of Karnataka can make special provisions".
  
• The Board of Governors will have two Secretaries holding the charge of the education departments, while the rest will be from outside the Government. The board will appoint auditors, lay down policies, review decisions of the university, approve the budget and decide, if necessary, on the winding up of the university. The Government reserves the right to intervene in the event of mismanagement, mal-administration and indiscipline, the note, explaining some of the clauses in the proposed Bill, said.
  
• The Governor of the State will be a visitor of the university. He can seek any information and clarifications and confer degrees and the minister for higher education will be pro-visitor (pro-chancellor).

Business Standard interviewed Dileep Ranjekar, the CEO of the APF, who throws more light on their plans for the APU.

Where do you plan to have the varsity?
If Karnataka finally passes the Bill, and empowers us to start the private university, then the location will be Bangalore.

What was the inspiration behind this concept?
The biggest issue that has actually promoted us to think about the varsity is 'why is that there is no university that is focussed on elementary education in the country'. We observed that we don't have people with professional backgrounds in this country to address issues pertaining to the education sector. Hence, this university will be very similar to the national law school which was launched primarily to create professional lawyers in the country. The university will engage itself in educating professionals who, in turn, will be required for building the capabilities of teachers and managers as educators. Besides, we intend to train people who will make policy decisions based on their knowledge about education.

What courses you plan to offer?
Other than creating trained educational professionals, we plan to offer a post-graduate (MA) programme in education initially. We will also launch several short-term courses which will actually be targeted at in-service development needs of education managers, teacher educators and teachers. The second important activity is research, because research is lacking in education in India. The university will focus sharply on research on several issues to understand how things works; what causes better learning; how do we develop better people and what makes an effective teacher. There are hundreds of such issues. It will also have some experimental labs as part of the university. We also intend to collaborate with a number of states across the country to help them through education resource centres.

Since it will be a self-financing university, will students bear the cost?
Essentially it will be borne by the students. But where the students can't afford, we will have a scholarship programme.

How much funding have you received from Azim Premji for the Foundation so far?
We have earmarked close to Rs 650 crore so far, and this has been entirely funded by Azim Premji. We work with the government and we leverage the funds which we spend. The leverage is very important because the state has really the strength. Because anybody else spending money on the education is going to be very minuscule. The Foundation works with the government which is responsible for schooling. We work with close to about 20,000 schools across the country.

Will the UGC recognise the courses being offered by the university?
The university that comes into existence through a state legislation, will automatically be a recognised university. We don't have to approach the UGC for this.

The APF website lists K.S. Viswanathan as the person in charge of the APU project. Viswanathan had outlined APF's thoughts on improving education in India and its current activities in an interview last January.

VP: What exactly is the Azim Premji foundation doing now in the school scene in Karnataka?

K.S.V: The Azim Premji foundation is focused on Rural Government Schools in the states. We work along with the State Governments in executing some of their priorities. Karnataka has over 45,000 Elementary Schools and 8,000 Education functionaries. However, the learning levels in these schools are very low.

The key objective of the Azim Premji Foundation is to significantly contribute to the Universalisation of Elementary Education in India that facilitates a just, equitable and humane society. After 7 years of operations driving this goal, the foundation has now identified Teacher, Education functionaries as well as Examination reforms as the three pillars as the major programs to pursue.

Teachers tend to teach what gets tested. Teachers are the key transformational agents in the class rooms. Education Functionaries play an important role on how a teacher is actually engaged in a class room. What is needed is a common shared Vision amongst the various stake holders in the Education System in the country. With these goals, the Azim Premji Foundation has been working with the State Government on various initiatives that will supplement their efforts in improving the quality of education in the state.

Our programs in the Karnataka Government is built around Examination reforms, Class room teaching learning process, Teacher training and preparation and Academic support for schools.

We started with Accelerated Learning Program (ALP) in North East Karnataka (the most backward economically and academically) in 2001. This was followed with the Learning Guarantee Program ( LGP) where we ran programs to assess the learning's in the class measured in terms of Competencies acquired in Maths, Language and Science in Class 2 and Class 4. Based on our findings, the Karnataka Government set up a special Organization, Karnataka State Quality Assessment Organization ( KSQAO). KSQAO is now running the LGP program across the state to assess the competency acquired in the Elementary Schools in the state. Currently, we are implementing Child Friendly School initiatives in 330 schools in Surpur block of Yadgir district in NE Karnataka to assess the impact of Community participation in School management, Teacher support system as well as LGP.

We are also running a Management Development Program for 8000 Education functionaries in the state.

VP: What does the Foundation do in other states?

K.S.V: We have extended the concept of Learning Guarantee Program in the few districts in the states of MP, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal. We are also developing Child centric, self paced, interactive learning system using educational software in 18 languages including 4 tribal languages, to facilitate the unleashing of creativity in children.

In addition, in the states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Pondicherry, we are working with the Governments to assess the impact of Technology led initiatives in Class room learning along with, as well as providing Academic and Pedagogic support to Schools . Our programs cover 13 States, 16000 schools and 2.5 Mn children.

VP: India currently has about 35 Million children "out of school" and about 157 Million children in the school. How are you trying to bring a balance between quantity and quality?

K.S.V: We have a unique challenge here. We need more schools to cover larger number of children in the country and at the same time, the quality of education in terms of school infrastructure, class room process as well as Teacher support system. Post the launch of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Universalisation of Elementary Education) program, there has been an improvement in the access to the school for the children in the rural areas. Today, close to 90 % of the children have an access to an elementary school within a distance of 3 Kms from their homes. However, in the process the quality of education has taken a beating. Other programs like Mid day meals, free text books etc have further enhanced the gross enrolment ratio in the schools to around 90%. This is good and welcome news with respect to quantity.

However, quality of education has emerged as the biggest concern in the elementary school system in the country. We have around 200 mn children in the age group of 6-14; out of who only 52% of them reach Class 8 and only 31% reach class 10.Even amongst these children, only 1/3rd of the children are able to read and write their names in their native language.

One of the main reasons for the higher drop out rate as well as low learning in the elementary schools, is the quality of class room process, Curriculum design and Teacher support system in addition to other socio economic factors. The good news is there is an increased awareness on these issues and there is a good focus from all concerned including NGO's like Azim Premji Foundation, Ministry of Education in the Central and in the state government to address these issues . It is a slow but a definite process towards improving the quality of education in the elementary schools.

VP: So what, according to you, are the key needs of elementary education today?

K.S.V: Elementary Education today requires a good Academic Support System, more accountability to all stake holders including the Community for learning outcomes as well as a common shared strategic perspective amongst all stake holders in the system. Making the Teacher's job more exciting, more important as well bringing more recognition to the teachers and the Education functionaries can change the way we look at the Elementary education system in the country.

We need more Action research in the challenges of the Elementary Education. There is also a need to revamp the teacher Education system in the country focused on Elementary schools.

The APF's strategy of addressing the challenge of universalisation of elemenatary education by improving the quality of teachers and the quality of the classroom learning process is an excellent one. Their idea of walking the talk and investing to set up an university focussed on teaching and education management is a welcome step. What is more, the APF's strategy of working closely with the Government, indeed partnering with them, to leverage their strengths and complement them with the APF's own strengths is very well conceived. As Dileep Ranjekar points out, the challenge of educating all our children is a challenge of scale. No private player can match the scale of the Government's efforts. The Government has a crucial role to play. Ranjekar's choice of the word "leverage" is apt in this context. The APF's efforts (backed by its Rs. 650 crore investment - no mean sum in itself, albeit just a drop compared to the Government spending on education) can provide a multiplier effect to the Government's own investments and lead to huge improvements in teaching and learning in Government schools. By working closely with the Government (the Policy Planning Unit in the Dept. of Education in Karnataka is staffed by Government officials as well as staff from the Azim Premji Foundation) and offering the Government substantial control over the running of the proposed APU, the APF is also pre-empting the possibility of any standoffs with future Governments, run by other administrations.

The APF's initiatives in area of Education Management are described on their web site. One aspect of Education Management that doesn't find a mention in their list, but deserves attention is the economics of running schools. The challenge will be to keep fees as low as possible and affordable to the masses, yet find the ways and means to delivery a high quality education in a self-sustaining manner year on year. I hope the APF is working on this too.

The APU is likely to be the first of many more such universities likely to be set up in the coming years. Just as Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata provided the seed investment to set up the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore (still knowns as Tata Institute to Bangloreans) a 100 years ago, I can see a time not before long when we will have more such universities spawned by India's successful and farsighted business leaders. Imagine an Infosys University, a Mittal University, a Mahindra University, a Tata University, a Birla University ,a Reliance University, a HCL University, a TVS University, a Bharti University, a Bajaj University, an ITC University, an ICICI University, a HDFC University, and many more dotting the country over the next decade. Just the thought of the impact they could have, with each of them specialising in different areas, sends a frisson of excitement down the spine. It took almost 13 years, from 1896 when Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata wrote to Lord Reay about the creation of a national university, to 1909 when the Government of India issued the vesting order for the institute, for the Indian Institute of Science to see the light of day. Azim Premji has shown that it will take much less time today from idea to reality.

Raison d'etre of a college - providing instruction or producing learning?

A paradigm shift is taking hold in American higher education. In its briefest form, the paradigm that has governed our colleges is this: A college is an institution that exists to provide instruction. Subtly but profoundly we are shifting to a new paradigm: A college is an institution that exists to produce learning. This shift changes everything. It is both needed and wanted.

said Robert Barr and John Tagg, in a landmark article titled "From Teaching to Learning" published in the Nov/Dec 1995 issue of Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. According to the editor of Change, this article by Barr and Tagg is "arguably the most widely cited piece that Change ever published."

Barr & Tagg provided a nice comparison and contrast between what they call the Instruction Paradigm and the Learning Paradigm.

Instruction Paradigm	Learning Paradigm
Mission and Purposes	Mission and Purposes
Provide/deliver instruction	Produce learning
Transfer knowledge from faculty to students	Elicit students discovery and construction of knowledge
Offer courses and programs	Create powerful learning environments
Improve the quality of instruction	Improve the quality of learning
Achieve access for diverse students	Achieve success for diverse students
Criteria for Success	Criteria for Success
Learning varies	Learning varies
Inputs, resources	Learning & student-success outcomes
Quality of entering students	Quality of exiting students
Curriculum development,expansion	Learning technologies development,
Quantity and quality of resources	Quantity and quality of outcomes
Enrollment, revenue growth	Aggregate learning growth, efficiency
Quality of faculty, instruction	Quality of students, learning
Teaching/Learning Structures	Teaching/Learning Structures
Atomistic; parts prior to whole	Holistic; whole prior to parts
Time held constant,learning varies	Learning held constant, time varies
50-minute lecture,3-unit course	Learning environments
Classes start/end at same time	Environment ready when student is
One teacher, one classroom	Whatever learning experience works
Independent disciplines, departments	Cross discipline/department
Covering material	Specified learning results
End-of-course assessment	Pre/during/post assessments
Grading within classes by instructors	External evaluations of learning
Private assessment	Public assessment
Degree equals accumulated credit hours	Degree equals demonstrated knowledge and skills
Learning Theory	Learning Theory
Knowledge exists "out there"	Knowledge exists in each person's mind and is shaped by individual experience
Knowledge comes in chunks and bits; delivered by instructors and gotten by students	Knowledge is constructed, created,
Learning is cumulative and linear	Learning is a nesting and interacting of frameworks
Fits the storehouse of knowledge metaphor	Fits learning how to ride a bicycle metaphor
Learning is teacher centered and controlled	Learning is student centered & controlled
Live teacher, "live" students required	Active learner required, but not "live" students required
The classroom and learning are competitive and individualistic	Learning environments and learning are cooperative, collaborative, & supportive
Talent and ability are rare	Talent and ability are abundant
Productivity/Funding	Productivity/Funding
Definition of productivity: cost per hour of instruction per student	Definition of productivity: cost per unit of learning per student
Funding for hours of instruction	Funding for learning outcomes
Nature of Roles	Nature of Roles
Faculty are primarily lecturers	Faculty are primarily designers of learning methods and environments
Faculty and students act independently and in isolation	Faculty and students work in teams with each other and other staff
Teachers classify and sort students	Teachers develop every student's competencies and talents
Staff serve/support faculty and the process of instruction	All staff are educators who produce student learning and success
Any expert can teach	Empowering learning is challenging and complex
Line governance; independent actors	Shared governance; teamwork independent actors

Building on the powerful argument of Barr and Tagg for a shift to the Learning Paradigm, what can we do in the Indian context? I've some thoughts which is fodder for another post.