Great article by amcho Fred. He's a walking bibliography on Goa.:=)) Gilbert.
From: Frederick Noronha This issue had been posted on the Net a year or two ago... If you would like to follow up on where it has reached, you could contact the St Xavier's address above. FN COMMUNITY COLLEGES COULD HELP TACKLE GOA'S DROPOUT PROBLEM By Frederick Noronha PANJIM, April 27: Tribal girls working on sari designs? Salaries for those whom our academic system thinks of as drop-outs? This and more is possible if one adopts the system of 'community colleges' as an educational system, says former Loyola College Chennai principal Dr Xavier Alphonse. Alphonse spent much of the past weekend interacting with educationists from Goa, and sharing ideas on how the country's elitist higher educational system could reach out to the neglected. For eight years, this Jesuit priest has been preaching the potential of such colleges. "I've been very much fascinated by the 'community college' model which has been working for a hundred years in the US. We need to be giving hope to people," says he. Such colleges are primarily targeted at the urban and rural poor, tribal and women. Their goal is to be colleges "of, for and by" the community. Most are not affiliated, keep their curriculum flexible to meet local needs, and run out of existing institutions. "Two things are needed most to make a young man or woman employable. That's self-esteem and self-motivation," says Alphonse. Typically, students undergo intensive practical training for about a year. They're not just taught work-skills, but also go in for an internship and hands-on experience with partner-firms in industry. More importantly, they're taught 'life skills' -- how to build self-esteem, basic computer applications, some English, positive thinking, undertake goal setting and the like. India's first 'community college' was started by the Central University of Pondicherry in 1995. Later, the next year, the Archdiocesan Society of Madras-Mylapore launched another. By now, there are some 95 community colleges spread across 12 states of India. Of these 73 are in Tamil Nadu. "Earlier, nobody thought of this in India. Our education was so tradition-bound, and attached to Macaulay's system of education. Poverty and unemployability -- more than unemployment -- are major problems with our system that need to be tackled," he told this correspondent in an interview. In places like Kolar, where the gold mining crash has impoverished thousands of families, the community college could offer skills and also confidence, he says. Such colleges don't have to invest heavy in their infrastructure, since they work out of existing institutions, during the hours when the regular colleges are closed. "They use the same classrooms, the same computers, only the teachers have to be paid extra," he explains. Training is largely technical, and the emphasis is practical. Fees are fixed at around Rs 2500 per year. "But upto 60 to 70 per cent of students can't even afford to pay Rs 400," he admits, saying some support has to be offered, considering that these are poor students. So far, some 13000 students across India have gone through such education. Of these, about 10,000 managed to get middle level jobs, with salaries of between Rs 800 to Rs 3000 per month, says he. He seeks scope for such institutions to take up courses in tourism, office management, computer software, and two- or four-wheeler repairs in Goa. Most innovatively, these institutions keep out of the accreditation system. "Our emphasis on quality brings in social recognition and industrial recognition. What more recognition do we need?" says Alphonse. The Planning Commission has given him a grant to study the potential impact of such type of education. Alphonse has spent the past eight years intensely working on this. "In the US, most community colleges are driven by market forces. Here, we need to think of social needs. There, the government offers its support. Here it has to be supported by the community," he says. In Chennai Dr Alphonse and his team have set up the Madras Centre for the Research and Development of Community Education. It can be contacted via email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and it's website is www.mcrdce.com (ENDS) ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################
