Cyriac Thomas

Democracy, Politics and Violence in the Campus
Cyriac Thomas
Former Vice-Chancellor,
Mahatma Gandhi University


Democracy remains the most popular system of governance and comparatively the most acceptable system –democracy may not be considered by all shades as the best system – but certainly democracy stands the best available system – in any process of democracy politics is an inevitable and unavoidable factor – no democracy can properly function without politics, parties, pressure groups and interest groups – organized bargaining has come to stay as an effective instrument and methodology in all political processes in any democratic set up – it is absolutely incorrect and to a considerable extent dangerous too to succumb to the propaganda that politics is something sinful, wrong or a dangerous specialization. – true politics is serene and sacred - it is the politicians who make it otherwise – in any democracy the future depends on the younger generation and hence a proper and healthy training for them in all democratic processes seems a must – campus should provide the student with a positive awareness of politics and they should be provided with opportunities to learn the style of functioning of every mechanism in democracy – campus politics and campus violence are fundamentally different and not to be taken mutually complementary – democratic processes in the campus has to be strengthened but any form of violence in the campus has to be discarded or abanded and possibly can even be banned – campus should be made the training ground of good citizens and effective politicians and successful parliamentarians – but enough care has to be taken that no campus should become a breeding ground for criminals, law breakers or terrorists in the given Indian situation – campus should promote a balance of vision on social and relevant issues and an equally balanced approach in politics– psychologically, intellectually and socially – campus should strengthen academic politics – ideological confrontations will certainly prove healthy in promoting true democratic spirit – but personal and physical confrontations and conflicts will only vitiate the campus and defeat the true spirit of democracy as it is a negation of tolerance for the ‘other view’ and will reflect only a dictatorial or totalitarian attitude – Dialogue and debate should make the campus worth its value – often clamour for freedom in the campus is raised by student groups when they form a minority political group and once they gain an upper hand they also tend to follow the earlier style of their adversaries and lay all possible blocks to prevent the free exercise of freedom of their political rivals in the campus – Blame is not to be placed on students alone for this style or pattern of behaviour as the senior leaders put example for them – The violence and intolerance often demonstrated in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies also provide a very negative message to the younger ones in the campus too – Corrective measures should be immediately initiated more in the society than in the campus inorder to free democracy, politics and also the campus from violence.

C P Chandrasekhar

C P Chandrasekhar

Globalisation and higher education: An Indian perspective

Abstract

Globalisation has, it is widely acknowledged. thrown open new
challenges for higher education policy in developing countries. With
corporations increasingly catering to global markets, multinationals
using developing countries as locations for world market production
and the share of services in international trade rising, the demand
for a more homogenous structure of higher education has increased. In
the process, education itself is becoming an important component of
global services trade. This paper tracks this evolution and assesses
India's still ambiguous attitude to the methods of entry and operation
of foreign universities and to the trade in educational services in
the light of global development.

Christopher Winch

Civic Education, Pluralism and the Indispensable Role of the State.

Christopher Winch
Department of Education and Professional Studies
King’s College, London

It is argued that all education worthy of the name embodies a significant civic element. Different conceptions of civic education are considered and it is argued that civic education requires some form of state regulation. Education has a strong public good element and it is argued that promotion of the public goods provided by education is an indispensable role of the state. Among these goods are human relationships. Human well-being should be a fundamental concern of the state and can be secured by various means among which the reduction of relative inequalities of income and wealth are central. Such a reform of wealth distribution requires a sense of fraternity amongst citizens if it is to be lasting and education has a central role to play in promoting fraternity. A substantial degree of state control as opposed to mere state regulation of education is a necessary means of promoting this. Some of the difficulties of providing civic education to promote fraternity in a pluralist democratic society are then discussed.

P Chandramohan

Education and Empowerment of the Marginalized
P Chandramohan
Vice Chancellor, Kannur University


Abstract

India has one of the richest heritages in education. Still India had to be a colony for a long time. Analysing the history from a scientific and critical stand point one can easily understand that exclusive education was the singular major cause that imposed intellectual slavery over the huge majority of our society that ultimately made this country a colony of illiterates who got marginalized from all areas of civilized life. This process needs to be reversed for India to be sustained as an independent sovereign democratic country.

Equity and Quality

We have had islands of excellence in the past also. The best examples are the Universities of Nalanda, Thakshasila etc. But in spite of these islands of quality and excellence India became a colony only because the majority were excluded from the field of education. Patriotism, nationalism independence etc. were unknown to them. Obviously they were non responsive to the various foreign invasions and were mere spectators when the various foreign invaders fought between themselves for power and exploitation of India’s rich natural resources. The quality of a nation depends on the quality of the citizens at large. In other words the quality of the average citizen is more important than islands of excellence. So much so the quality of a nation like India depends to a large extent on equity when the nation is considered as a single entity.

Who are marginalized in India?

1. Marginalised on the basis of historical and social causes
2. Marginalised on the basis of religion
3. Marginalised on the basis of gender
4. Marginalised on the basis physical and mental causes
5. Marginalised on the basis of economic causes
6. Marginalised on the basis of regional backwardness

Putting all these factors together Kothari Commission classified the learners into first generation learners where the parents are illiterate, second generation learners where the grant parents are illiterate, third generation learners where the parents and grand parents are literate and proposed that first and second generation learners should be the target group for inclusiveness and other support measures.

Access Equity and Quality to go together

Without access equity cannot be achieved and without equity the quality of the average citizen cannot be improved. To achieve this universalisation of higher education should be the correct policy.

Why Universalisation of Higher Education

In the past higher education was intended only for a selected group on the basis of merit and other factors. But today the human genome project has proved that the volume of gene pool and the volume of genetic potential is the same in every human being even though the quality and nature of genetic potential differs from one individual to another. Now we know that if proper environment is provided according to the genetic potential and aptitude, every student can be brought to the level of excellence. So the new slogan should be universalisation of higher education by ensuring quality education to every citizen.

How to ensure Equity

1. Increasing the access to higher education
2. Selective discrimination (reservation for admission)
3. Financial assistance to remove the economic barrier
4. Capacity improvement programmes
a) Bridge courses
b) Remedial coaching etc.

How to Improve the Quality of the Average Citizen

1. Including the marginalized for admission to higher education

2. Restructuring of higher education
a. admission of right student for each course (aptitude test)
b. updating the syllabus and curriculum offering more flexibility
c. updating the pedagogic techniques
d. continuous evaluation
e. innovations and research
f. university-industry interface
g. extension activities
h. value based education

Cameron McCarthy

Movement and Stasis in the Neoliberal Re-Orientation of Schooling and the University


Cameron McCarthy
Institute of Communications Research
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
810 S. Wright Street
Urbana, IL 61820
cmccart1@uiuc.edu

Scholars writing on the topic of globalization cast globalization processes too often in terms of simplistic binary oppositions: “homogenization” versus, “heterogeneity,” “uniformity” versus “diversity, cosmopolitanism” versus “localism,” “centralization” versus “decentralization” and so forth. In the context of an application to schooling and the university, globalization is often seen as a set of processes happening “way out there” in the world, far from what educators, teachers and students do. Globalization is therefore depicted as embodying movement and dynamism. On the other hand, schooling, particularly in the urban setting, is often represented within the discourse of “stasis” and tradition. In this presentation, I confront this unreflexive dualism, showing how globalization articulated to neoliberal policies—associated, for example, with the United States Bush government’s “No Child Left Behind Act” of 2002--is effectively restructuring the organization of knowledge in educational institutions and undermining their vital function as institutions dedicated to the public good. I argue “movement” and “stasis” are therefore intimately related in the reorganization and restructuring of education and the larger processes of re-feudalization of the public sphere.

Dr.G.Balamohanan Thampi

Pedagogy for Citizenship
Dr.G.Balamohanan Thampi
Former Vice Chancellor, University of Kerala
gbmt@rediffmail.com

There have been confident declarations about India emerging as a leading power in the world, along with China. This hope is confirmed by reliable by US think thanks. If the central government. promptly implements the recommendations of the knowledge commission within a few years the number of universities in the country will increase five-fold. Let us presume that along with it the middle level education will be effectively universal. Even supposing that these targets would be at least partiallly fulfilled, we have to rethink the role of our educational system in strengthening the democratic foundations of our polity. This requires a citizenry fully aware of their rights and responsibilities in the political process of decision-making and implementation.

Unfortunately the neo-liberal approaches adopted by the government have resulted in a massive retreat of the state from its educational and cultural commitments. Instead of educational institutions producing the “human capital”, the scientific and technical personnel to serve the challenging tasks of industry, education itself has been for most part commercialized, debased and devalued. It is the safest investment with no risk and unlimited profit.

In order to implement development programmes successfully our citizens have to be educated to respect values like secularism, pluralism and tolerance. Unless there values are imbibed at the school level we cannot build a strong nation with cohesion and integrity. We need a common school system which will not aggravate the present stratification. The majority of private schools, particularly those catering to the elite, bring up a student community in an atmosphere of apolitical careerism and unhealthy competition

The ruling elite wants a generation of students who will uncritically assimilate their value system and accept the present social system with its inequality, injustice and prejudices.

At the dawn of independence Nehru had pointed out that we were taking a jump to full political democracy without educating the people. Sixty years after independence we are still comforted with the problem of making our people worthy of an enlightened democracy. The elected are not going to be much better than the electors. If people do not exercise their electoral choice judiciously, they would be governed by unscrupulous and unprincipled polititions. We can reverse our old motto Yatha raja tatha praja and say yatha praja tatha raja. People get the kind of government they deserve.

Educationalists have been aware of the problem of value education since independence. Dr. Radhakrishnan recommended the inclusion of philosophy for inculcating a sense of values in the student community. Some years break an attempt was made to smuggle in reactionary traditional religious ideas in the grab of value education.


Teachers and students assimilate the value system which will strengthen the ideological hegemony of the ruling elite . Great thinkers like Tolstoy, Gandhi, Tagore, Russell, Freire, Illich, Krishnamorthy and others were aware of the serious inadequacies of the educational system they saw. They experienced with new pedagogical methods which unfortunately did not succeed.

But we have to realize that values cannot be taught from scriptures alone. Preaching of abstract values will be futile when the exploitative society in practice encourages competition, agreed, fanaticism and violence. Dishonesty, hypocrisy and deception seem to be the real driving forces our economic and political system.

Therefore, if pedagogy for democratic citizenship has to succeed, our teachers, students and leaders have to find a strategy to coordinate popular struggles for establishing a genuinely democratic polity. Desensitizing our political culture should go hand in hand with reforming our pedagogy.
The governments controlled by the left hesitate to take any decisive initiative in radicalizing the educational system in conformity with their ideological commitments. Bold educational innovations may hurt the reactionary vested interests who are capable of unleashing forces difficult to control. Hence the watchword of the rulers is: caution, compromise and appeasement

Asoka Jayasena & Susila Kumari Embekke

ISSUES IN DEVELOPING A CURRICULUM: TEACHING - LEARNING AND EVALUATION
by
Asoka Jayasena & Susila Kumari Embekke
Open University, Colombo

The term ‘curriculum’ has a long history and is often traced back to the early philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. However, an analysis of the term reveals that it was popularized in the 20th century and that it came to be used in different contexts attributing different meanings to it depending on the perceptions of those who used it. Some perceived it as a list of subjects while others saw it as a written plan of action thus distinguishing it from what is happening within the four walls of a school. But a majority of educators however are of opinion that it is a set of planned learning experiences formulated based on the ideas, skills, values, norms and practices available within a society. Thus it is evident that in this context it is more related to the function than scope. Therefore, in this paper the focus would be the principles adopted in designing and developing a curriculum with emphasis on teaching, learning and evaluation in order to cater to the needs of stakeholders and meet the challenges of a rapidly changing globalized and technical society in the 21st century

MADELEINE ARNOT

MADELEINE ARNOT

EDUCATING YOUNG FEMALE CITIZENS: SOCIAL DISCRIMINATION, GENDER EQUALITY AND GLOBAL DEMOCRATIC ISSUES

The World Bank Report (2007) describes a ‘demographic window of opportunity’ to make a difference to the education and inclusion of young people, particularly those living in poverty, experiencing illiteracy and unemployed. There is a record 1.3 billion youth between 12 and 24 in the world. Young people make up half the world’s unemployed, some 130 million cannot read or write and some 100 million new jobs are needed to cope with young people seeking work. This window of opportunity arguably is only open for a short period of time.

Poverty alleviation however cannot be achieved solely by improving access to formal schooling and the transition from schooling to work. The socio-cultural, familial and political transitions into citizenship are equally important. Individuals will only find ways out of poverty if they feel that they belong, are valued and that they can and will make a contribution to society.

The experience of those young people who, for whatever reason, are not able to take up their entitlement to an education, is one of marginalisation and social exclusion from citizenship. Those who attend schools learn about the civic culture of a country by experiencing the structure, culture and organisation of the institution. However, the experience may be contradictory especially for girls and for young people from disadvantaged groups. In some cases, this experience directly transmits the democratic and inclusive values intended by politicians and officials; in other cases, the experience contradicts those values, encouraging a discriminatory, negative view of the social order by legitimating and even aggravating social inequalities of gender, class, caste, religion and ethnicity. Schools unless closely monitored are not unambiguously democratic institutions; hence the continuous re-engagement of policy makers with the core values and objectives of the education of young female and male citizens.

International attention has now therefore defined young people’s experiences of citizenship as ‘crucial for development outcomes’ with major human capital consequences. Young men and women should now be seen as important stakeholders who can make considerable difference to:

collective action, public accountability, caring for kin and community, environmental stewardship, the promotion of human dignity, and the creation of shared identity and rights (WBR, 2007)

The transition into ‘exercising citizenship’ is described as one of five key transitions of youth into adulthood - the others are: learning; beginning to work; taking risks that impact on health; and forming families.

The World Bank report encourages the view that young people as active citizens can also be used to improve market performance: in this scenario, both male and female youth as stakeholders can protest against officials who are not accountable or challenge a service that is inefficient. Young people would carry the flag of economic development and democratic process. From this position schools could be judged on how far they encourage ‘youth citizenship’; how far young people of both sexes feel that they not only have a shared identity, but that they have rights, responsibilities and a duty to provide some service to society. For most countries, these goals are not ones normally associated with girls. The focus all too often of female education is service to their families and their menfolk. Learning leadership and even the right to choose as a focus of female education are often neglected. The transition to citizenship for young women is fraught with difficulties.

From an educational point of view, this political agenda highlights the value of a form of citizenship education for all young women as well as young men and a set of markers with which to assess progress of schools towards the achievement of female civic rights, responsibilities and duties. These recommendations mean that schools should ensure that they are proving girls with opportunities (a) to learn how to practice ‘active citizenship’; (b) to develop their capabilities and encourage recognition of the importance of female youth identity by those who count; and (c) ensure that women are given second chances to correct mistakes, if taking the wrong direction.

However, the future of young women and young men is not only affected by their schooling. Those living in poverty or near the poverty line are at the centre of a maelstrom of social changes, most of which they are not able to benefit from. Even if protected within the home and unaware of the forces which shape their lives, young women and their families are affected by, for example: cultural globalization which encourages individualization and new types of gender identity through global media; and, economic globalization that leads to urbanization, migration, often increasing inequalities between the rich and poor. These forces also run counter to strong cultural and religious allegiances, cultural heritages and national/patriotic identifications. Young people today have to negotiate the traditional ethnic, patriarchal, gerontocratic and gender cultures of their communities if they are to retain social support at a time of reduced state welfare.

The challenge of the 21st century is to find a way of educating both young women and young men for such social change, helping them find their own sense of voice, agency, choice and empowerment as well as giving them ways of moving out of poverty.

The paper argues that the essential pre-condition for girls to be able to take up and take advantage of their full entitlement to quality education as young citizens is both the promotion of gender equality and a recognition of the gender differences created historically. This, however, implies genuine social transformation of gender relations within educational institutions and within society. Drawing on the UK experience and recent research on youth citizenship, the presentation suggests a number of key dimensions and educational challenges which are relevant to the promotion of gender equality in the next generation, in and through education.

M. Arnot
November 2008.

K.ARAVINDAKSHAN

Education, Human Resources and Development


Abstract


1. Economists and educationists have been stressing the vital link between education, human resources and economic development. This link has not been seen reflected properly in policy making as yet
2. No wonder our higher education sector continues to be ill equipped to take up the challenges of the modern knowledge-based economy. Hence the emphasis on the need to ensure that higher rate of economic growth is made inclusive so that India attains the status as a key player in the global economy
3. The role of the state needs to be reinvented and ensured in view of the country’s economy having been opened up and is vulnerable to the influence of the global economic trends. Only the state can guarantee an equitable and sustainable economic order in the new scenerio
4. What India has to ensure today is the formulation of suitable policies in the sphere of higher education so as to realize qualitative expansion through higher GER without compromising on quality as proposed in the 11th plan
5. Measures to create an adequate and well trained and well qualified faculty at different levels and in different disciplines are imperative in this context
6. Promotion of research and developmental activities can no longer wait



K.ARAVINDAKSHAN

Anne Hill

Discursive change and the empowerment of children: a conceptual analysis

Anne Hill
Senior Lecturer,
CPUT Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, South Africa
hilla@cput.ac.za
Phone: 021 680 1525


The paper responds to key terms in the International Seminar concept note that signify notions driving education reform discourse in Kerala.
A post-structuralist approach is used to deconstruct the term ‘secular’ and how it constructs identity in a globalising discursive environment.
Tensions between notions of hegemony and agency in the language of globalisation, neo-liberalism and democracy are explored. Binary conceptions of reflective versus reflexive adaptation to change, critical versus emotivist argument and functional versus rights-based democracy are proposed.
Bernstein’s taxonomy of learners’ rights and conditions for their realisation is presented as a framework for constructing democratic learning environments.

Finally, attention is drawn to the affect of aligning education reform with a discourse of rights-based democracy on education practices for agency and empowerment.