There has always been a perennial debate on educational reforms in India. And it has been perennial because the infrastructure and the resources allocated have always been on a different plane from each other, not to mention the other minor factors such as beaurocratic delays and red tape which function at the topmost level of their efficiency. The results do not startle anyone.Around 20% children devoid of their primary education and 15% do not see the secondary school.
Since the platform was corrupt, the problem got compounded at the undergraduate and post-graduate level. About a decade back, the private sector foresaw an untapped business opportunity in educational institutions and took a plunge resulting in the construction of professional colleges wherever they could lay their hands on. If the figures are to be counted for, then there are close to 100 private engineering colleges in Uttar Pradesh alone producing lakhs of engineers per annum yet the industry cries out loud being under a technical talent crunch. The blaming goes ceaselessly but no answers are sought out. And this is partly due to the fact that no layers are exposed beyond a certain limit as that would expose the naked truth that is draped in careful bandage of white lies.
Why is it that even after having more than 1000 engineering colleges in India producing more than 4 lakh engineers per annum, the government feels that more colleges are required? This is because the private institutions are not only having a major chunk of the so-called unemployable engineers, but also because the government cannot do anything about them. These institutions although being under the umbrella of governing bodies like the AICTE lack the infrastructure that is a pre-requisite for a development which is not only theoretical but also applicatory.
The full blame cannot be put on the college authorities too. With a handful of corporate houses investing properly in education, the burden of providing adequate facilities falls directly on a bunch of small business owners who form trusts and committees to run the colleges and to fill their pockets both at the same time. Although the AICTE norms are met, it is usually too less for the students who are shelling out a hefty amount for a professional degree.
Starting with inadequate infrastructure and untrained faculty, the problem gets aggravated at every level. Such colleges have passed out students as faculty members who don’t even have a master’s degree. Moreover, with no immediate authority to exercise control on these institutions, they are slowly turning out to be intellectual black holes of India with a long chain of corruption embedded firmly at its root.
All this while, the government plans to build new IIT’s and IIM’s to meet the ever growing pressure from the industry.
A better solution would be to meet the needs in an evolved manner. Institutions of the genre of IIT’s should be kept at the top most level of the educational pyramid with the autonomy that they enjoy, so that the burden does not fall directly on the shoulders of the technical capitals of India.
Tier 2 institutions could be the REC’s and the NIT’s and they should be brought up to the level of IIT’s in terms of improved infrastructure and research facilities.
The Tier 3 colleges could be the private engineering colleges which should have some amount of government interference and investment. Construction of new colleges should be checked and the allocated resources should be directed to the already constructed colleges which are taking undue advantage of their autonomous nature and are busy sucking money from students in the name of an engineering degree. The point is to capitalize on the fact that new colleges started from scratch would eat up lot more resources than these already running institutions.
The ultimate goal is to have a new educational order where all the tiers are aiming to reach at the next level under the eyes of a watchdog so that the future of India is not left at the mercy of those who are converting the educational institutions into money minting machines.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Save my soul again....and my marks too.
See, i know i crib a lot, but i am not always wrong on the cribbing.
Below is an account of our labs and their cutting edge technological advancements as being taught to us in this semester.
1.Web based development lab aka Java lab
Current status : Any program which is coded in anything remotely similar to java refuses to get compiled. JAVA is NOT installed yet (we are into the second month of the semester)
Vox populi, Vox dei : "Why worry yaar? chill . and play minesweeper for two hours "
2.Multimedia lab
Course:
Game development and simulation techniques.
OUR course/ current status: Make your resume in html (don't try to go any far from html, thou shall be crucified)
For the ambitious souls, try making a website for a clothing company (again the html limit imposes)
Vox populi: " What is simulation?? game development??? why should WE do it?? Just make the sites and chill "
2 hours of sheer time pass.
3.Microprocessors lab [My favorite]
current status: No lab has been taken by any faculty member for over a month and a half now.
We went to some higher authorities regarding this.
Result: Threat by the faculty concerned . We should better watch out for the internal marks.
Again i have been labeled a traitor.Twenty people went with me and they say i took them all forcingly ..
Vox populi: Hang me till death.
4.Computer Graphics:
Current status: We are making sweet little huts out of sweet little lines .
5.Operating system
Current status: We know how to install windows. Isn't it so cutting edge? ouch ..i cut my finger...
Did i tell you that i was doing computer science engineering??
Computer : ..umm..what's that??
Science : Oh u mean chemistry and biology??
Engineering : Cummon, be a sport. All we do is reverse engineering...
Save my Soul
When is the time one should stop taking things they are? The time when one should stand up and tell the others that things don't work this way? The time when fear should take a backseat for a higher purpose in life? The time when one should stop surrendering his life to higher authorities? I have been blamed a traitor and a defiant being since time immemorial now ;) and every time i used to take it as a compliment, but now the legendary clouds of doubt are rafting above my head, hiding the legendary sun of truth. Due to certain course of events in the recent days, i have been made to beleive that "i" might not survive unless i go in for heavy alteration. This "I" is different from the one people use.
So what's the story behind my ailing "I" ?
We all have to appear for a general proficiency exam in an year. This exam carries 50 marks. This time i was asked in my exam : "Would you go in for a love marriage or an arranged marriage? "
"Who is the most beautiful woman according to you? "
"Do you beleive in God ? "
"What is the most beautiful thing/event on earth?"
"What qualities would you like to have in your husband?"
"What is the difference between hobby and passion?" [umm umm err.. ;)]
Now now , the lady made me feel like i was competing for some miss.universe title. Still, I gave the general proficiency answers [hey, where is general proficiency btw] and went away with the file having my certificates untouched.
Some months later:
Mark sheets arrived... 32/50 ..what did i do??
My answers of evolution and non-existence of God did not please her.
So what's the story behind my ailing "I" ?
We all have to appear for a general proficiency exam in an year. This exam carries 50 marks. This time i was asked in my exam : "Would you go in for a love marriage or an arranged marriage? "
"Who is the most beautiful woman according to you? "
"Do you beleive in God ? "
"What is the most beautiful thing/event on earth?"
"What qualities would you like to have in your husband?"
"What is the difference between hobby and passion?" [umm umm err.. ;)]
Now now , the lady made me feel like i was competing for some miss.universe title. Still, I gave the general proficiency answers [hey, where is general proficiency btw] and went away with the file having my certificates untouched.
Some months later:
Mark sheets arrived... 32/50 ..what did i do??
My answers of evolution and non-existence of God did not please her.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Fooling Randomness....
Yeah..u read it right. It’s all about fooling randomness. Life is a mission, a mission to waste your time and here i am doing the same. After brooding about the fact on how nothing matters ultimately in our life spans, I have a quite-obvious question to brood about...What should we do then?? keep making fools of ourselves?? I must say, when it comes to life's philosophy, i am a big fan of Ayn Rand and I believe firmly that her way is THE way. We as humans, have no moral obligation towards anybody apart from ourselves. Philanthropy is not justified. Religion is not justified. Justice is not justified. Love. Hatred. Friends. Foes. Family.Patriotism.Politics ...name anything.. It just doesn't work.. Then what works??
Work works ... yes.. Your vocation works... Not because you ought to leave a legacy behind. Not because you ought to make the world a better place ...but because its probably the only thing which makes you feel less stupid the end of the day..
Work works ... yes.. Your vocation works... Not because you ought to leave a legacy behind. Not because you ought to make the world a better place ...but because its probably the only thing which makes you feel less stupid the end of the day..
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Fooled by randomness.... part 2
Did I say life is a joke? Yes indeed it is, the cruelest joke ever played by nature and probability. Take the case of a scientist who was foolish enough to research into calendars when it was known that it is the earth which is the center of the universe and all the other planets revolve around it. Imagine that in his lifetime he managed to publish such a calendar and died peacefully. Wasn’t his life a joke? What about the person who got hanged for voicing his opinions that it’s the sun which is the center? I have taken these two examples because they are different yet are the same. Both the people supported some cause, one was right and the other was wrong, but what was the gain? Nothing.
Let’s get to the present day, Religious fanatics….Politicians…Capitalists… people who have an opinion, and the people who don’t have it. Nothing matters ULTIMATELY.
We hear cases of students committing suicides because of bad results, take it this way, how does it matter to the earth that someone’s performance was bad? How does it matter to the universe how much marks are you getting in your chemistry exam? Yet, we slog day in and out. Funny??
How about a person who killed three more people because he believed that his religion was not followed by them? How does it matter to another person sitting in a continent across him whether he did the right thing or the wrong one? If it doesn’t matter to a person who is sharing the same planet as yours, do you think it matters at all?? That anything matters at all?
No . It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Now what? Why are the people ignorant of this fact? Because it is the truest truth. Because humans suffer from the stigma of escapism. We give the example of the ostrich hiding its neck in deep mud when it sees danger, aren’t we doing the same? We refuse to admit the reality that we indeed are nothing. We have been bred and brought up on the EGO word, the community word, the religion word and the money word. We have been spoon-fed dangerous notions in our mind. Basically every notion that is obnoxious is dangerous. Every thing that pushes into the realm of more-than required is dangerous. Now who defines the regular? What is right if nothing is ? What will a man do suddenly when he’s told that all the principles and the values that were stuffed into him were nothing?
I feel at this point I should feel lucky to have been born in India, where questions of such character have not only been asked for but also have been answered in a more or less refined manner. Though I haven’t read much of him, but I think the “middle path” defined by Buddha was based on the same philosophy of not attaching undue importance to anything. In my terms, the IDEAL human life should be led like chameleons..
Read more to assist me in my journey of fooling randomness…
Let’s get to the present day, Religious fanatics….Politicians…Capitalists… people who have an opinion, and the people who don’t have it. Nothing matters ULTIMATELY.
We hear cases of students committing suicides because of bad results, take it this way, how does it matter to the earth that someone’s performance was bad? How does it matter to the universe how much marks are you getting in your chemistry exam? Yet, we slog day in and out. Funny??
How about a person who killed three more people because he believed that his religion was not followed by them? How does it matter to another person sitting in a continent across him whether he did the right thing or the wrong one? If it doesn’t matter to a person who is sharing the same planet as yours, do you think it matters at all?? That anything matters at all?
No . It doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Now what? Why are the people ignorant of this fact? Because it is the truest truth. Because humans suffer from the stigma of escapism. We give the example of the ostrich hiding its neck in deep mud when it sees danger, aren’t we doing the same? We refuse to admit the reality that we indeed are nothing. We have been bred and brought up on the EGO word, the community word, the religion word and the money word. We have been spoon-fed dangerous notions in our mind. Basically every notion that is obnoxious is dangerous. Every thing that pushes into the realm of more-than required is dangerous. Now who defines the regular? What is right if nothing is ? What will a man do suddenly when he’s told that all the principles and the values that were stuffed into him were nothing?
I feel at this point I should feel lucky to have been born in India, where questions of such character have not only been asked for but also have been answered in a more or less refined manner. Though I haven’t read much of him, but I think the “middle path” defined by Buddha was based on the same philosophy of not attaching undue importance to anything. In my terms, the IDEAL human life should be led like chameleons..
Read more to assist me in my journey of fooling randomness…
Children of probability. Fooled by randomness....
I am sorry to have taken (read stolen) the title of this post, from Taleb sir, but I must compliment him for this title, because I think these words are the best description for our stay at planet earth. Amongst all the GOD theories and miracles, there exists this theory which puts to use the evolutionary concept. I am told by all such books that WE, the humans were not a result of God’s wishes, but were the results of probability. So, we are the children, the progeny of probability. We happened by chance, life happened by chance. So are we programmed to be fooled by randomness?? If yes, can’t we exit the program?? If no, then what is the best way to escape this loop and still be a part of it??
I know I would be sounding confusing to a majority of people, so I would simplify, not for their sake, but for mine too, in the hope that I would find my answers in that simplification. But to search for answers, we must have questions. And for questions, we must have doubts in the existing system of answering these very questions.
It is said that humans were not created in a flash; they were the results of a continuous growth, the growth of a chain...the chain of evolution. But so were the animals, the reptiles, the birds and the plants. This in turn implies that probability gave us no preference over them; we were all equal in our paths to evolution. Then suddenly, we found that we were the first among equals, in our added share of responsibility, in our added accessories of consciousness and emotions. These accessories soon became the albatrosses around our necks.
We were programmed to reproduce and contribute to the never ending chain (we don’t know whether chain is the right word for it or a loop) and these accessories were appended to make our life a bit easier, but these accessories have been wrongly taken, we have attached primary importance to them. We are so much into these chains of gold that we don’t realize that we are nothing. WE mean nothing individually as well as collectively, we just have to contribute and pass away.
But how do we spend the time? Eighty years or seventy years is not a short span of time, to be whiled away, so we invented things to occupy ourselves. Vocations, entertainment, religion and festivals. We invented the mindsets who invented things, we invented the mindsets who followed them, defied them and ignored them.
Another question arises..WHY?? Why all this pain??
Another answer..Because we have to survive…because we have to contribute..because if we won’t do it, someone else will. I feel the strongest and the most blunt truth was the statement “ Survival of the fittest”. This statement catches the philosophy behind our existence and it is the most cruel joke. you know why?? read on...
I know I would be sounding confusing to a majority of people, so I would simplify, not for their sake, but for mine too, in the hope that I would find my answers in that simplification. But to search for answers, we must have questions. And for questions, we must have doubts in the existing system of answering these very questions.
It is said that humans were not created in a flash; they were the results of a continuous growth, the growth of a chain...the chain of evolution. But so were the animals, the reptiles, the birds and the plants. This in turn implies that probability gave us no preference over them; we were all equal in our paths to evolution. Then suddenly, we found that we were the first among equals, in our added share of responsibility, in our added accessories of consciousness and emotions. These accessories soon became the albatrosses around our necks.
We were programmed to reproduce and contribute to the never ending chain (we don’t know whether chain is the right word for it or a loop) and these accessories were appended to make our life a bit easier, but these accessories have been wrongly taken, we have attached primary importance to them. We are so much into these chains of gold that we don’t realize that we are nothing. WE mean nothing individually as well as collectively, we just have to contribute and pass away.
But how do we spend the time? Eighty years or seventy years is not a short span of time, to be whiled away, so we invented things to occupy ourselves. Vocations, entertainment, religion and festivals. We invented the mindsets who invented things, we invented the mindsets who followed them, defied them and ignored them.
Another question arises..WHY?? Why all this pain??
Another answer..Because we have to survive…because we have to contribute..because if we won’t do it, someone else will. I feel the strongest and the most blunt truth was the statement “ Survival of the fittest”. This statement catches the philosophy behind our existence and it is the most cruel joke. you know why?? read on...
Thursday, August 16, 2007
I dn't wanna go..
It's again the time to go to college, and i just don't wanna go. Apart from the world class ambience of my college, there is one more thing which is not allowing me to go.....that 3 hour journey, though I go in a cab now, shivering all along because of the effective ac, but the very thought of sharing my space with seven motormouths makes me shudder. Neways, i have to
go..my lunch is ready ...and now i have to drag myself to the bathroom once again.. :(
I am thinking of so many advantages home would offer me if only i stay here..i am excited that i could complete two-three chapters of the book i am writing , work on my project , read a lot ..wow and then a weekend to sustain the enthu...but my mom doesnt want her efforts to get wasted ..she woke up early for me..so i HAVE to go...
go..my lunch is ready ...and now i have to drag myself to the bathroom once again.. :(
I am thinking of so many advantages home would offer me if only i stay here..i am excited that i could complete two-three chapters of the book i am writing , work on my project , read a lot ..wow and then a weekend to sustain the enthu...but my mom doesnt want her efforts to get wasted ..she woke up early for me..so i HAVE to go...
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