This is a deliberate top post. Mahesh - while not denying the existence of all that you are talking about I am extremely cynical about any change in the short to medium term
The phrase "short-to medium term" is selected deliberately by me. A person who has a child and has to held that thild theough school and then try and ensure (as indian parents do) that he can have some way of sustaining himself in life is basically a "short to medium term plan". That means your child who is in 2nd grade today will be attempting to choose a career with no significant change in system despite that fact that "times are changing". What that basically means is that the elite such as us will always find "bypass routes" for our children because the "mainstream route" is chock full of people stuck to their old biases. India offers a clear "Catch 22 situation" If your child wants to do medicine or engineering - your child faces such stiff competition that unless he is extraordinarily talented he wil have to attend extra tuition from 9th standard up, or he will find it is too late to get into one of the more reputable colleges. failing that you can take the "bypass route" of paying a huge donation If your child does not want to do enginering or medicine, there are very very few people and very very few schools, and very very few parents who know what he can do and the education is not at all helpful in preparing a child for what he may need outside of medicine or engineering. The choices are there. But school boards do nothing to offer or guide them for various reasons. Either way - a significant number of perceptive and enlightened parents end up frustrated, unhappy and angry by the time their child finishes school. I believe that by the time an average parent gets interested in the education system - it is probably too late to help his own kids live a life that is not dominated by lack of choice. I may change my views on this if I can see the sloth in india moving at a faster pace - but I am that to see that despite Kapils Sibal's short fuse. shiv On Thursday 07 Oct 2010 10:04:07 am Mahesh Murthy wrote: > On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:36 AM, ss <[email protected]> wrote: > > In any case your experiences with your son do not in any way repesent the > > experience of the majority in the Indian education system. You are one of > > the > > elite who will bypass the system as long as possible. > > Shiv, the point isn't about being elite. The fact that you are commenting > on this forum is in itself an indication that you're as elite as me or > anyone else on this list. > > The point was about your persistent entreaties that 'nothing has changed in > Indian education' and 'it's as bad as ever' and the 'role of rote' and > 'it's all engineering or medicine still' etc. > > My counterpoint was that your knowledge of what constitutes Indian > education today seems quite significantly out of date. > > Yes, a large mass of education is as pathetic as it used to be when you and > I were growing up. But there are significant signs of not just alternative > schools in India as various people have alluded to here, and of kids > seeking careers far removed from engineering and medicine, and of schools > and school systems (beyond the state boards and CBSE) that are no longer > as outdated as things were in our time. Not just that, there are large > pockets of innovation. > > As a side indicator of that last point, I'd like to bring to note the > remarkable performance of private Indian companies in education - something > that was unthinkable a mere 20 years ago. Educomp and Everon have market > caps of over $500m and yesterday's IPO entrant CareerPoint is quickly > getting there. > > I have more than just a passing interest here. As an investor in the sector > I can tell you from first-hand knowledge that there's huge consumer > interest in facets of education we would have considered unconventional a > few decades ago. And not just from what you'd consider "the elite India". > One of my investees focuses solely on teaching kids in K through 4 > physical education. With significant traction in Chattisgarh. Another > focuses solely on teaching 8 to 12 year olds robotics. Big traction in > non-urban Maharashtra. A third runs a dozen schools around India, most > outside major cities. Each is barely able to keep up with consumer demand. > > The times, they are a-changin'. > > My $0.02, > > Mahesh >
