NEW DELHI: The potential of broadband gives us the hope that millions of children will not be left outside the reach of the ongoing knowledge revolution, Union minister for human resource development and telecom Kapil Sibal said on Monday.
“Fast, affordable broadband can connect children who do not have proximate access to decent education resources to world-class online resources,” he said, given the huge gaps in terms of physical infrastructure, quality teachers and accountability in INDIA’s education system.
For this potential to be realised, it is important that the government not see telecom primarily as a source of revenue, but as an enabler of a host of things, whose combined effect would be to enhance incomes and growth, he said. He was speaking at an education conference EDVANTAGE, organised by the Economic Times on, ‘India: The Education Superpower’, which hosted its 4th edition.
Referring to the announcement made by the PM a few months ago on Meta University, which aims to have institutions of excellence in specific fields of knowledge linked online, the minister said it is about a new way of learning and teaching. Four institutions have already enrolled for this initiative, namely Delhi University, Jamia Milia Islamia, JNU and IIT Delhi.
Answering a question on faculty shortage, he said 1,500 faculty members would be going to US under an exchange programme between the two countries and several such steps are being taken for faculty development. He urged academia, private and public universities to come up with initiatives to address such issues.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
The Case of Missing Mentors
As reported by DNA ( 10 May,2012 ), following are the findings of The Standing Committee on Human Resource Development – Government of India :
% age of Faculty positions lying vacant in
* 24 Central Universities …………………….. 35 %
* 39 Central Universities ……………………………. 39 %
> % age of Professor level vacancies
[ in 16 Central Universities ]…………………………… 55 %
% age of Faculty positions lying vacant
In 77 State Universities………………………………………50+ %
But why are faculty positions lying vacant ?
Here are ( educated ? ) guesses of the Committee :
Young students were not attracted towards teaching profession
Recruitment process was a prolonged one
Difficult to digest when India’s colleges are churning out some 3.5 Million graduates every year
Did it occur to the Committee that may be these graduates are simply “ Not Employable “ ?
Proof :
When AMCAT ( Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test ) was conducted in 20 colleges of Mumbai University, only 1 % of the final year students appearing for the test ( 50 out of 5,000 ) were found “ employable “ !
We are in a vicious circle !
With regards
hemen Parekh
http://www.CustomizeResume.com
Jobs for All = Peace on Earth