A beautiful poem shared by Principal Sir:
Go not to the temple to put flowers on the feet of God ...
First fill your own house with fragrance of love...
Go not to the temple to light candles on the alter of God...
First remove the darkness of sin from your heart...
Go not to the temple to bow down your head in prayer...
First learn to bow in humility before your fellowmen...
Go not to the temple to pray on bended knees...
First bend down to lift someone who is downtrodden..
Go not to the temple to ask for forgiveness for your sins...
First forgive from your heart those who have sinned against you...
ABC of Life
A--Accept
Accept others for who they are and for the choices they've made even if you have difficulty understanding their beliefs, motives, or actions.
B--Break Away
Break away from everything that stands in the way of what you hope to accomplish with your life.
C--Create
Create a family of friends whom you can share your hopes, dreams, sorrows, and happiness with.
D--Decide
Decide that you'll be successful and happy come what may, and good things will find you. The roadblocks are only minor obstacles along the way.
Musharraf visit to India
Dear All
JAI HIND...
This is a video of press conference held during the time when Musharraf was President of Pakistan and visited India.
JAI HIND...
The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill
Dear All
As promised by the Union HRD minister to enact the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, which seeks to make education a fundamental right of every child in the age group of six to 14 years has been passed in the Rajya Sabha unanimously, however, it needs some observation.
It's also important that any change in the policy should ensure that it is properly debated; hence same should be with respect to the Right to Education Bill. Before it is tabled in the Lok Sabha and passed certain critical aspects of this Bill needs to be reviewed and may be amended because in its present form the Bill suffers from some anomalies which must be given due consideration. It is important that the Bill finds remedies for all the mentioned glaring lacunae.
•Children in the age group 0-6 years not covered: This bill does not institutionalize Early Childhood Education (Age Group of 0 – 6) an important step towards universalisation of early childhood care & education (pre-primary education) as a significant step towards Universalisation of Elementary education. This is in contradiction to the Supreme Court's (Unnikrishnan) judgment in 1993, giving all children up to 14 years of age a Fundamental Right to Education. This is also in contradiction to India's own commitment at the Jomtien Conference (1990), acknowledging expansion of early childhood care and development activities as an integral part of the 'Education for All' objectives. This bill has not recognised the importance of the early years.
• This Bill has again failed to promote a common school system: The Bill states that "it will be the responsibility of the state to provide free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school within a period of three years from the commencement of the Bill". There is no provision to create an equitable infrastructure to provide an equitable education. This Bill will not be able to meet its obligations unless a common school system encompassing all types of schools is envisaged with effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure quality of education. The State Boards could be fitted into this frame.
• Children with disabilities: The Bill states "children with severe or profound disability, (who) cannot be provided elementary education in a neighbourhood school, shall have the right to be provided education in an appropriate alternative environment as may be prescribed'. This is against the principle of 'inclusion'. Further the Bill has not detailed on the facilities needed to enable children with disabilities to attend school. In this Bill, 'disability' has the meaning assigned by the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, which does not include such other disabilities as defined by the National Trust Act, 1999 i.e., excluding children with mental and learning disabilities.
• The Right to Education Bill permits private schools on the one side and imposes several conditions/restrictions — on admissions (including the 25 per cent quota), minimum standards and policies on promoting students among others.
• Reservation of seats in school for disadvantaged and economically weaker section: "The Bill provides for 25% reservation of seats in all including private unaided schools for poor children in the neighbourhood. The government would reimburse the money at government rate towards these seats.
The formula for arriving at the rate has not been fixed. The financial arithmetic should have been reflected in the Bill. It's also true that the cost of schooling per child per annum varies widely. The fee paying students who will constitute 75 percent of the children in the school in private schools would be required to pay for these non-paying 25 percent on one hand and also be admitted by displacing the 25 % children from another category. This means that one category will get the benefit at the cost of another which is a dubious idea. Further it is also estimated at 33% extra tax would be charged by the government on parents who dare to send their children to private schools. The government rather improving the standard of its own school is imposing its burden to the private schools.
The Bill states that the government would provide reimbursement to the private school to the extent of per-child expenditure for government schools. But the reimbursement only covers the tuition fees whereas it should in fact measure the full unit cost of education delivered through the public system. This includes current and capital costs including land, building, books, materials etc.
• The voucher system would be a better option. The government should reimburse the school through the voucher. This will promote school choice and will empower parents by providing choices in deciding what schools their children may attend. Hence by allowing children to attend a public or private school of choice the quality of education along with the opportunity to achieve success will also increase. The Private Schools could be asked to take on 10-15% students through the voucher system as an add on.
• On Private unaided schools there is no need to impose conditions for admission and must be given the functional autonomy to manage the school subject to their being accountable for quality of education. Evening shifts may be allowed for maximum utilization of the available resources.
• Discrimination against private schools. Private schools are required to get recognition after fulfilling various infrastructure norms whereas government schools are automatically recognised. This means that a government school can function in open or from a tent and still be recognised, but a private school has to have the entire infrastructure to be recognised.
The Bill states that private schools can be set up only after certification from a 'Competent Authority'. This will again offer scope for corruption by officials who will oversee these aspects. These rules could lead to interference in school management and an 'inspector raj' by the local authority.
The current system of recognition by boards is working reasonably well. Schools to be allowed to affiliate to boards of their choice without needing NOCs.
• Making education a fundamental right may result in poor quality of education. The Bill must guarantee education and not merely schooling in the sense that there needs to be an open commitment that every child will achieve the expected learning outcomes proportionate with the years of schooling. There has to be mechanisms in place to ascertain that the guarantee of education is being fulfilled through periodic assessments to improve the quality of the education system. (Continuous Comprehensive evaluation must be undertaken throughout the year to ensure the learning outcomes)
• The Bill does little to set quality standards: Bill should have insisted upon some quality benchmark say for example that all government-run schools should be of the level of the KVs or JNVs etc. In the name of Right to free and compulsory education it can not compel children to study in inferior quality schools in the neighborhood distorting the very concept of 'neighborhood school' as defined by Parliament.
• The Bill forbids any type of test of the child for admission. Student achievement levels can be assessed only through some type of test to decide the appropriate class for admission.
• The Bill strongly advocates for non-detention policy till a child completes elementary education. In a context in which quality education is being emphasized and all tried-out interventions and inputs are put into the system, non-detention appears to be a non acceptable norm in schools. Hence, the policy of non-detention is in direct conflict with the policy of quality education. There has to be mention of some learning levels of children.
• Bill provides for a uniform curriculum and evaluation procedure for elementary education within each state but it fails to provide any minimum learning outcome.
• The Bill has not provided any mechanism for overcoming the existing shortcomings of the institutional structures for teachers' training and innovation.
• The bill is also silent on how it is going to overcome the shortage of teachers leave apart qualified teachers. (The country already faces a shortage of 8 lakh teachers in primary and middle schools. As per the NUEPA study "In the desperation to churn out teachers in large numbers, little attention is being paid to their qualifications. About a quarter of all teachers taking Classes I to VIII have themselves studied only till the secondary stage. Another quarter have studied up to the senior secondary stage. So, educational qualification of almost half of all teachers is senior secondary or below.)
• The Bill doesn't make any provision for seeking action against the government authorities.
It's also important that any change in the policy should ensure that it is properly debated; hence same should be with respect to the Right to Education Bill. Before it is tabled in the Lok Sabha and passed certain critical aspects of this Bill needs to be reviewed and may be amended because in its present form the Bill suffers from some anomalies which must be given due consideration. It is important that the Bill finds remedies for all the mentioned glaring lacunae.
•Children in the age group 0-6 years not covered: This bill does not institutionalize Early Childhood Education (Age Group of 0 – 6) an important step towards universalisation of early childhood care & education (pre-primary education) as a significant step towards Universalisation of Elementary education. This is in contradiction to the Supreme Court's (Unnikrishnan) judgment in 1993, giving all children up to 14 years of age a Fundamental Right to Education. This is also in contradiction to India's own commitment at the Jomtien Conference (1990), acknowledging expansion of early childhood care and development activities as an integral part of the 'Education for All' objectives. This bill has not recognised the importance of the early years.
• This Bill has again failed to promote a common school system: The Bill states that "it will be the responsibility of the state to provide free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school within a period of three years from the commencement of the Bill". There is no provision to create an equitable infrastructure to provide an equitable education. This Bill will not be able to meet its obligations unless a common school system encompassing all types of schools is envisaged with effective monitoring mechanisms to ensure quality of education. The State Boards could be fitted into this frame.
• Children with disabilities: The Bill states "children with severe or profound disability, (who) cannot be provided elementary education in a neighbourhood school, shall have the right to be provided education in an appropriate alternative environment as may be prescribed'. This is against the principle of 'inclusion'. Further the Bill has not detailed on the facilities needed to enable children with disabilities to attend school. In this Bill, 'disability' has the meaning assigned by the Persons with Disabilities Act, 1995, which does not include such other disabilities as defined by the National Trust Act, 1999 i.e., excluding children with mental and learning disabilities.
• The Right to Education Bill permits private schools on the one side and imposes several conditions/restrictions — on admissions (including the 25 per cent quota), minimum standards and policies on promoting students among others.
• Reservation of seats in school for disadvantaged and economically weaker section: "The Bill provides for 25% reservation of seats in all including private unaided schools for poor children in the neighbourhood. The government would reimburse the money at government rate towards these seats.
The formula for arriving at the rate has not been fixed. The financial arithmetic should have been reflected in the Bill. It's also true that the cost of schooling per child per annum varies widely. The fee paying students who will constitute 75 percent of the children in the school in private schools would be required to pay for these non-paying 25 percent on one hand and also be admitted by displacing the 25 % children from another category. This means that one category will get the benefit at the cost of another which is a dubious idea. Further it is also estimated at 33% extra tax would be charged by the government on parents who dare to send their children to private schools. The government rather improving the standard of its own school is imposing its burden to the private schools.
The Bill states that the government would provide reimbursement to the private school to the extent of per-child expenditure for government schools. But the reimbursement only covers the tuition fees whereas it should in fact measure the full unit cost of education delivered through the public system. This includes current and capital costs including land, building, books, materials etc.
• The voucher system would be a better option. The government should reimburse the school through the voucher. This will promote school choice and will empower parents by providing choices in deciding what schools their children may attend. Hence by allowing children to attend a public or private school of choice the quality of education along with the opportunity to achieve success will also increase. The Private Schools could be asked to take on 10-15% students through the voucher system as an add on.
• On Private unaided schools there is no need to impose conditions for admission and must be given the functional autonomy to manage the school subject to their being accountable for quality of education. Evening shifts may be allowed for maximum utilization of the available resources.
• Discrimination against private schools. Private schools are required to get recognition after fulfilling various infrastructure norms whereas government schools are automatically recognised. This means that a government school can function in open or from a tent and still be recognised, but a private school has to have the entire infrastructure to be recognised.
The Bill states that private schools can be set up only after certification from a 'Competent Authority'. This will again offer scope for corruption by officials who will oversee these aspects. These rules could lead to interference in school management and an 'inspector raj' by the local authority.
The current system of recognition by boards is working reasonably well. Schools to be allowed to affiliate to boards of their choice without needing NOCs.
• Making education a fundamental right may result in poor quality of education. The Bill must guarantee education and not merely schooling in the sense that there needs to be an open commitment that every child will achieve the expected learning outcomes proportionate with the years of schooling. There has to be mechanisms in place to ascertain that the guarantee of education is being fulfilled through periodic assessments to improve the quality of the education system. (Continuous Comprehensive evaluation must be undertaken throughout the year to ensure the learning outcomes)
• The Bill does little to set quality standards: Bill should have insisted upon some quality benchmark say for example that all government-run schools should be of the level of the KVs or JNVs etc. In the name of Right to free and compulsory education it can not compel children to study in inferior quality schools in the neighborhood distorting the very concept of 'neighborhood school' as defined by Parliament.
• The Bill forbids any type of test of the child for admission. Student achievement levels can be assessed only through some type of test to decide the appropriate class for admission.
• The Bill strongly advocates for non-detention policy till a child completes elementary education. In a context in which quality education is being emphasized and all tried-out interventions and inputs are put into the system, non-detention appears to be a non acceptable norm in schools. Hence, the policy of non-detention is in direct conflict with the policy of quality education. There has to be mention of some learning levels of children.
• Bill provides for a uniform curriculum and evaluation procedure for elementary education within each state but it fails to provide any minimum learning outcome.
• The Bill has not provided any mechanism for overcoming the existing shortcomings of the institutional structures for teachers' training and innovation.
• The bill is also silent on how it is going to overcome the shortage of teachers leave apart qualified teachers. (The country already faces a shortage of 8 lakh teachers in primary and middle schools. As per the NUEPA study "In the desperation to churn out teachers in large numbers, little attention is being paid to their qualifications. About a quarter of all teachers taking Classes I to VIII have themselves studied only till the secondary stage. Another quarter have studied up to the senior secondary stage. So, educational qualification of almost half of all teachers is senior secondary or below.)
• The Bill doesn't make any provision for seeking action against the government authorities.
Latest update after Swiss Bank has agreed to disclose the funds….
Our Indians' Money - 70, 00,000 Crores Rupees in Swiss Bank
1) Yes, 70 lakhs crores rupees of India are lying in Switzerland banks. This is the highest amount lying outside any country, from amongst 180 countries of the world, as if India is the champion of Black Money.
2) German Government has officially written to Indian Govern-ment that they (German Government) are willing to inform the details of holders of 70 lakh crore rupees in their Banks, if Indian Government officially asks them.
2) German Government has officially written to Indian Govern-ment that they (German Government) are willing to inform the details of holders of 70 lakh crore rupees in their Banks, if Indian Government officially asks them.
3) On 22-5-08, this news has already been published in The Times of India and other Newspapers based on German Govern-ment's official letter to Indian Government.
4) But the Indian Government has not sent any official enquiry to Germany for details of money which has been sent outside India between 1947 to 2008.. The opposition party is also equally not interested in doing so because most of the amount is owned by politicians and it is every Indian's money.
4) But the Indian Government has not sent any official enquiry to Germany for details of money which has been sent outside India between 1947 to 2008.. The opposition party is also equally not interested in doing so because most of the amount is owned by politicians and it is every Indian's money.
5) This money belongs to our country. From these funds we can repay 13 times of our country's foreign debt. The interest alone can take care of the Center’s yearly budget. People need not pay any taxes and we can pay Rs. 1 lakh to each of 45 crore poor families.
6) Let us imagine, if Swiss Bank is holding Rs. 70 lakh crores, then how much money is lying in other 69 Banks? How much they have deprived the Indian people?Just think, if the Account-holder dies, the bank becomes the owner of the funds in his account.
7) Are these people totally ignorant about the philosophy of Karma? What will this ill-gotten wealth do to them and their
families when they own/use such money, generated out of
corruption and exploitation?
8) Indian people have read and have known about these facts. But the helpless people have neither time nor inclination to do anything in the matter. This is like "a new freedom struggle" and we will have to fight this.
9) This money is the result of our sweat and blood. The wealth generated and earned after putting in lots of mental and physical efforts by Indian people must be brought back to our country.
10) As a service to our motherland and your contribution to this struggle, please circulate at least 10 copies of this note amongst your friends and relatives and convert it into a mass movement.
6) Let us imagine, if Swiss Bank is holding Rs. 70 lakh crores, then how much money is lying in other 69 Banks? How much they have deprived the Indian people?Just think, if the Account-holder dies, the bank becomes the owner of the funds in his account.
7) Are these people totally ignorant about the philosophy of Karma? What will this ill-gotten wealth do to them and their
families when they own/use such money, generated out of
corruption and exploitation?
8) Indian people have read and have known about these facts. But the helpless people have neither time nor inclination to do anything in the matter. This is like "a new freedom struggle" and we will have to fight this.
9) This money is the result of our sweat and blood. The wealth generated and earned after putting in lots of mental and physical efforts by Indian people must be brought back to our country.
10) As a service to our motherland and your contribution to this struggle, please circulate at least 10 copies of this note amongst your friends and relatives and convert it into a mass movement.
AN AMAZING MESSAGE
Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate?
A Message by George Carlin:
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
George Carlin
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