Tag: Indian education

Medical Colleges In Each District Of UP: Yogi

Medical Colleges In Each District Of UP This Year: Yogi

By LokMarg

In order to strengthen the health infrastructure of the state, the Yogi Adityanath government will start 4,600 health ATMs in all wellness centers and medical colleges in every district, informed the government on Sunday.

According to an official release, the process of appointing expert personnel to assist the people at all health ATMs has also been expedited.
“With its launch, the patient will be able to get the facility of 60 tests. Teleconsultation facilities will also be available at health centers. Furthermore, all the PHCs and CHCs of the state will be connected with SGPGI and people will not have to run to the medical college for minor problems. At the same time, the facility of medical colleges will also start in almost all the districts of the state this year. Work is going on in this direction on a war footing,” it said.

The Yogi Government’s special focus, for this year, will be on the health sector, law and order, tourism, education, and infrastructure development.

The Government wants to ensure that the people of the state get better health facilities as well as technology-based education.

The government will give emphasis making the state’s education system smarter with the help of the latest technologies in the new year.

“Children will be given education through smart classes at basic, junior, and secondary levels whereas two tablets each will be given to each school. Besides, from the New Year attendance will be marked through the face reading of the children,” it further said adding that 77 textbooks will be available on QR code while pocket charts of the syllabus will be provided to the teachers.

Efficient assessment tests will be conducted for the children of the state’s primary and upper primary schools through the simple app. Along with this, Skilled India Monitoring Center will be established at the state level. On the other hand, to make the high school and intermediate board examinations more transparent, the vehicle carrying the question paper will be equipped with GPS and its route will also be decided.

Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) has prepared a landbank of more than 15,000 acres as part of the Yogi government’s goal to make the state a $ 1 trillion economy and to strengthen the infrastructure so that global companies coming to GIS-23 do not face any problem in setting up their plants and projects in the state.

Along with this, UPSIDA has started efforts to improve connectivity with the landbank. The authority has also started the process of taking over the land of closed units of spinning mills, 150 acres of Scooter India Lucknow, 500 acres of Ghaziabad, 250 acres of Hardoi, and other village societies. On the other hand, UPSIDA is constructing dormitories and community toilets on a war footing for the workers of industrial areas.

The Government also will plan to strengthen the infrastructure of the rural areas of the state.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to organize Chaupals in rural areas to solve problems faced by villagers and give momentum to the development of villages from January.

“On the instructions of the Chief Minister, Gram Chaupal would be organized in three-gram panchayats of each development block every Friday from January. The District Development Officer, Project Director, District Rural Development Agency, and Deputy Commissioner will participate in the Choupal in 2500 villages of the state to discuss employment and self-employment opportunities. The officers will also listen to the problems of villagers and resolve them. Besides, a progress report of the ongoing development works will be prepared and submitted to the government along with the requirements of villages. It will accelerate developmental works in rural areas in 2023,” Rural Development Commissioner GS Priyadarshi said. (ANI)

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Indian Education Needs Remodelling

By Asad Mirza

What is education? Answer to this question is multifaceted. Some say that it is the process of acquiring knowledge, skills, values and habits. Swami Vivekananda rightly said that, “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in the men.” Mahatma Gandhi said that, “Education is the basic tool for the development of the consciousness and the reconstitution of society”. However, recent moves by our policy and decision makers try to belie this belief, as these moves seems aimed at taking India back to the old ages.

Education is a journey, which gives the art of living, not just the livelihood. It makes us learn how to nurture our life and be more creative. Education makes us understand our conflicts. Thus, education is not merely learning of facts but is to train our mind to think. Education systems must provide opportunities to each and every individual to learn through experience and should help to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.

However, in India the education system has evolved in a completely different manner. Instead of focussing on critical thinking, expressing new ideas and debating and writing critically on any issue, our students are forced to learn through the rote route.

This concept of education goes back to the British colonialists, who wanted an army of clerks with basic understanding of the language and mathematics, to support their administrative system. However, this concept got roots in India and instead of focussing on developing mental and critical thinking faculties of the students and promoting research, our education system tuned into one where you amass degrees by cramming.

Educational Advance in India

Education and the right to education is one of the fundamental rights of our country’s citizens. It is compulsory for children aged between 6-14 to have an education. Over the many years, especially after independence, India has managed to increase its literacy rates to nearly 75% by 2021, and some states even boast of 100% literacy rate.

Most important focus in the recent decades has been on enhancing infrastructure, incentivising enrolments in schools by providing benefits such as midday meals etc. The private sector with government support has played a significant role in the expansion of the Indian education system and improving its quality. But it can also be credited with corporatising the education system, thus making education accessible to a privilege few.

In the research domain, India lags behind many countries. Our universities and colleges lack a multi-disciplinary approach to stimulate enquiry-based research skills. Absence of a proper framework for developing industry linkages with academia to promote research, further limits the faculty and students to work in this area.

We can perceive that most measures are more on paper with no tangible results evident. In 2004, the then UPA government had imposed an Educational Cess of 2% on every transaction in the country. In a three year period this cess generated 32,000 crore rupees. But how this amount was used, nobody knows and if one asks then vague answers are given. In fact if this amount had been used prudently, we would have a well-equipped and well-staffed middle-level school functioning in every village of the country. Similarly, for the last ten years, every taxpayer is bound to pay a 1.5% education cess on his total income tax. Where this money goes, nobody knows.

Tinkering With School Syllabus

Last year, in a completely uncalled for move, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) revised its syllabus for students of Classes 9th to 12th in the name of handling the stressful situation of teachers and students in view of the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, and in the name of rationalising the syllabus.

Some of the important chapters that have been deleted include: Federalism, citizenship, nationalism and secularism from class 11th political science subject besides India’s foreign relations with neighbouring countries and citizenship, besides Social and New Social Movements chapter in India from class 12th political science paper. Demonetisation from class 12th Business Studies paper. Colonialism and the countryside colonial cities and understanding partition from class 12th History subject have been deleted.

The irrational exclusions smacks of a political tone, aimed at keeping a large and young part of the population unaware of these issues. We should not forget that depriving the young generation of its right to increase its knowledge base is not only authoritarian but it might also boomerang. Most of the deleted topics form the foundation of democratic societies and students need to learn about these to enhance their knowledge base.

National Education Policy 2019 and 2020

The national educational policy came into force in the year 1968 to make education accessible to masses. It was aimed to strengthen national integration through a unified culture of learning. Since then constant measures have been taken to reform the Indian education system to provide better education services in the country, the latest being the National Education Policy (NEP) 2019 and 2020.

However, if we analyse critically the NEP 2019 and 2020, the overall intent and decision maker’s mindset, in tandem with the moves taken last year, will be clearer.

A critical study of the 484-page NEP 2019 reveals an issue deserving of wider, more heated debate. The words “secular” or “secularism” are not found anywhere in the NEP 2019. Though a clear reference to secular education was vital to be seen as the base for these ambitious reform proposals.

The absence of the word “secular” in the NEP 2019 becomes all the more pronounced when seen in contrast to the earlier policies of mentioning secularism as a core Indian value for the Indian education. The omission of the words “secular” and “secularism” in the NEP 2019 is ominous, along with the frequent affirmation of its aim of inculcating constitutional values in the education system, making it doubly odd.

The NEP 2019 was launched last in its new avatar as NEP 2020, but many of the contentitious isssues still remain.

In contemporary India, which has seen a sharp rise in caste and religious violence, the curriculum and teaching methods in Indian classrooms clearly have a key role to play in making caste and religious prejudices in society irrelevant and out of times. The challenge is to find fresh and creative ways of making young minds grasp these difficult contemporary social realities.

You have to understand that you can’t hide history by giving it a new twist. Even in countries like the UK there are demands to teach the medieval history to the school students again. If you feel that by hiding the truth on your controversial decisions you’ll be able to befool people or hide your misjudgements then you are wrong, as the history will ultimately judge you, whether you like it or not.

(Asad Mirza is a political commentator based in New Delhi. He writes on issues related to Muslims, education, geopolitics and interfaith)