Hi,
Please help -if possible.
Umesh
Note: forwarded message attached.
Note: forwarded message attached.
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--- Begin Message ---Hi All,
After receiving a "B-" in the 801 assignment(and having to rewrite my OP-Ed pieces for course in school reform) I have been busy with thoughts - and perhaps so have many of you in my class -since in my section noone (except perhaps Juno -who came in late and seemed pleased with her paper) said that he or she got A or A- (but Herman did say that some have got that in other sections)-when I asked out aloud.
Herman did raise hopes when he said that the final course grade is generally given - based upon the improvement you show in your subsequent papers - and there is plenty of scope of improvement - for me atleast.
I need some evidence on a presentation I would be giving in the Nov 12,13 CIES conference at DC. I do not want it to be like my paper (which I wrote on the issue of girl education in India) where after writing the paper based on MY undersatnding and views -- I searched the Net and library resources for appropriate data to cite. I could find some data - which justified my hypothesis - but generally lack of evidence led to my fall. Please help. The abstract is below.
Thank you.
Umesh
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Is mass education truly speaking to the masses? - the Indian case.
A lot has been said about the benefits of mass education and much has been done in terms of planning for the same at national level, in various countries for meeting national and global objectives ( such as Educational For All goals [Dakar] and the Millennium Development Goals). Much research has gone into analyzing the results of policies and programs launched to meet these objectives.
The picture presented for education in India is a dismal one - suggesting that India would not be able to meet the goals by 2015.
I question even the little progress which is said to have been achieved so far - in India. Given the level of corruption and level of ingenuity of the powers that be and the large number of charges of scams and frauds these policymakers (mainly bureaucrats and politicians) are facing - in all sectors of government - with increasing criminalization of the elected members of legislative bodies - it seems doubtful that whatever achievement in mass education in India is quoted to have achieved (in the data of UNESCO etc) is really reflective of reality - since most of the data is originally collected by the govt agencies themselves or by NGOs who work in close networking with the mostly corrupt govt agencies.
I'd like to point out several loopholes - in the data collected - for example, the definition of literacy in India - "those who can read and write" in Hindi- includes our maid servant in India - who can just print her name and recognize it -- but can hardly recognize any other word in her native language Hindi. Moreover, enrollment is perhaps calculated on a particular day of the school - where even child labour is asked to sit in the class for a day - and thus in reality the enrollment is much lower.
In Haryana state, an honest, senior bureaucrat ( of the elite Indian Administrative Service) was removed from his position as the Director of the State Board of Education - when he refused to succumb to the pressures of the Chief Minister to appoint govt school teachers from his own men - from a list handed over by Mr Chautala the Chief Minister - the case is pending in the High Court at Delhi. The teachers of government run schools, mostly appointed through such devious means, hardly attend the classes - though sign the attendance once a week (for the whole week). All this is visible, through the regular news reports by concerned NGOs in local and national dailies of India.
When such blatant corruption is evident in all spheres - especially education - in India - it seems surprising when claims are made that a majority of the Indian children are on the path of educational empowerment - through the mass education programs funded by international agencies.
I'd like to draw the attention of the concerned educators at the conference [with data and news reports from Indian publications] that the well meaning funding by the international agencies in NOT supporting mass education of the poor of India - but is primarily lining the pockets of a large majority of those responsible for implementing mass education programs in India.
Abstract for the paper to be presented by:
Umesh Sharma, MEd - International Education Policy program, class of 2005, Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA, USA.
On a F1 student visa from Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PS: I am glad that Professor Reimers gave his valuable feedback on my paper - since I myslef later recollected that I had missed linking up the various data in a coherent whole - that is how issues of literacy, access,quality, primary education and overall female education are linked.
I now realize that the Indian perception of issue of "girl education" -atleast that evident from the speeches of the ministers of education or official letters of the board of education --seems to consider the issue as a holistic one -- which includes everything -- quality, access to education at various levels -- linking them to gender equity -- BUT as students aspiring to be policy researchers and analysts -- we (thats how I see it) have to take up only one of the sub-issues at a time. Any comments?
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