Education

Over the last three to four months, parents across various Indian cities have organised themselves to fight against against private schools over unregulated fee hikes. Protests have been staged against schools in Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kerala and recently, in Hyderabad. In many cities, the school fee issue has reached judicial corridors this year. The Hyderabad School Parents’ Association (HSPA) received support from parents nation-wide, when they launched a “missed call campaign” last month. The Association gave a call to all parents to dial a number on a given day if they want school fee regulation. Reportedly, it received a total…

Two years ago, Anirudh, father of a 9th standard student and resident of HSR Layout, decided to admit his daughter to a boarding school managed by a former athlete in Kodagu. Anirudh strongly feels that in a city like Bengaluru it’s not possible to send the budding athlete for training in Kanteerava Stadium twice a day due to traffic. So the child was shifted from Bengaluru to Kodagu with the sole intention of providing her a better athletics training. Mallika Jaswanth is a mother of two school-going kids. She is a resident of Old Airport Road and works as a…

Last week, we covered the issue of many parents in Bengaluru protesting against the private schools hiking fees, which they say has doubled in last 4-5 years. But, is there another side to the story? Citizen Matters spoke to a few school managements and teachers. What are the costs involved in running a school? "It’s not just the maintenance expenses that the school managements have to bear, but the initial establishment cost too," says Dr M Srinivasan, Founder and Chairman of GEAR International School. For instance, he says, if a person had to buy two acres of land in a prime…

Deepanjali Mishra. Pic: Pravir B. Sukanti and Bhagirathi Mishra are on cloud nine. Since May 28, when the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results for Grade 10 board examination, these Whitefield residents are elated. Their daughter, Deepanjali, has done exceptionally well, securing A1 score in all five subjects. “My parents were really happy because it was their dream that I score well in 10th,” she exclaims when asked for her reaction. Her father is employed as a plumber in a housing complex, where her mother works as a cook. Her uncle is an electrician. “I was able…

In 2012, a private unaided school attached to CBSE board was newly opened in an area in Bengaluru where most of the IT employees live. Since the school was new, its tuition fee was comparatively nominal. Its annual fee was Rs 45,000 per student. In a parent’s words, three factors were attractive:  the board affiliation of the school(CBSE, ICSE), school infrastructure/quality of education and more importantly, the affordability. For a parent, four years ago a tuition fee of Rs 45,000 seemed affordable, but little did he know that the school fee would almost double in the years to come. This…

In 2015, Whitefield Rising volunteers joined hands with Samridhdhi Trust to run a Bridge School for children of construction workers in Nallurahalli area of Whitefield. Rotary and various companies contributed to the cause. Meanwhile, many students who went through various bridge schools run by Samridhdhi Trust in Bengaluru have passed recently held board exam with flying colours.   The Bangalore Effective Education Task Force (BEETF) Annual Day is organised to celebrate the achievement of our students and BEETF for bridging the gap in education and admitting 500+ ultra-poor, out-of-school-children to mainstream formal schools in the year 2015-2016.  Date: 28th May 2016.Time: 10:45 am -…

The Takshashila Institution, on May 3rd, launched India’s first post-graduate programme in public policy for working professionals. The 48-week programme is delivered using Takshashila’s networked learning platform that allows people from any academic background to take the course from anywhere at their own pace. Students will learn and interact with some of the foremost policy thinkers, analysts and practitioners and be eligible for careers with top industry, NGO, politician and media partners. The course starts in September 2016 and admissions open in the first week of May. Nandan Nilekani with the students and staff of the Graduate Certificate in Public…

Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, in collaboration with the Takshashila Institution, is launching a Master of Arts in Public Policy course. The introductory batch of this two-year course is due to commence from June 2016. Public policy is a sunrise industry in India, with a growing demand for trained public policy professionals in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors, as well as in government and politics. This course has a specially designed curriculum suited to India's needs. The course will create talented professionals who are well-equipped to engage in the complex arena of public affairs in India. The Takshashila Institution has been…

I don't know how many of you have ever had to switch schools in tenth grade and/or have kids who switched schools in tenth grade. If you have, I think you'll agree with me when I say that it is, in the truest sense of the word, an ordeal. For the past ten years, my academic career (OK, it's not exactly academic... let's call it my schooling) has taken place in Vidya Niketan School of Kempapura, Hebbal in Bangalore. This year, though, for reasons we need not go into, we decided that I was to switch schools. We began by…

The educational system in India is broken. Of course there are a few good schools, but the majority of our population is going through Government schools that have been proven to be inadequate, due to many reasons such as teacher absenteeism, wrote-learning sufficiency, lack of accountability, etc. (see James Tooley's research compiled in a book called The Beautiful Tree). Most of those forced to use the Government schools are in the Indian villages, where no alternatives are available. This rural population forms a majority of our population and it is disheartening and disturbing to see that majority Indian youth are…