Saturday, January 19, 2008

Links: Education in India


How leaky is our education pipe? Here's what Dr. Mohd. Hamid Ansari, our Vice-President, said in his Convocation Address at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata:

Where do we stand today? Some hard facts confront us. About 2 crore children are born every year. Around 7 percent of the children do not attend school between the age group 6 to 14. Of the ones that do go through the primary and secondary schooling, about 75 lakhs appear in Class X and 38 lakhs in Class XII examinations. At both levels the pass percentage is 50-55 percent. Only 6 percent enter the university system and only 4-5 percent opts for vocational education.

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Have you wondered about which states do well in primary education? Wonder no more. Caution: There are some interesting surprises!

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Have you heard about IIT-B's latest plan to encourage alumni contribution?

... [T]he institute is building a 'Brick Wall of Fame'. The glass wall will have one lakh bricks, 30,000 for those who have passed out and 70,000 more, for students who will graduate in the years to come. Every donor of Rs 1 lakh will find his name on this wall.

"We will put up a plaque of every student who walks into the institute on this wall, and keep it turned the other way. When that student passes out and contributes to the institute, the plaque will be turned around to show his name," said Phatak.

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