Do it yourself

Addressing the Student’s Union of London School of Economics and Political Science in 1923, Bertrand Russell said, “One of the peculiarities of the English-speaking world is its immense interest and belief in political parties. A very large percentage of English-speaking people really believe that the ills from which they suffer would be cured if a certain political party were in power. That is a reason for the swing of the pendulum. A man votes for one party and remains miserable; he concludes that it is the other party that was to bring the millennium. By the time he is disenchanted with all parties, he is an old man on the verge of death; his sons retain the belief of his youth, and the see-saw goes on.” After more than 100 years, his words not only remain true, but also equally applicable to the democracies which are not English speaking; Indian subcontinent being a classical case in point. In the past 75 years, the citizens of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal ha...

The government finally released the broad contours of New Education Policy. The last such policy was formulated 34years ago in 1986. Since then the socio-economic and technology context have completely changed. We are perhaps 25years late in effecting the necessary changes in our education, training and skill development system. Nonetheless, the new policy proposal is a strong positive move and needs to be welcome. In fact, it is arguably the best thing that has happened to India since MNREGA and RTE were implemented more than a decade ago. The new policy is a "reform" in true sense, as it aims to change the status quo materially. The new proposals mark significant departures from the extant methods & practices of teaching, curricula, learning objectives, assessment procedures, regulatory framework, and other related aspects of the education system. The strong emphasis on accessibility & affordability, vocational training, value system, ethical orientation, natio...