"Equity and Quality are Two Sides of the Same Coin in India’s School Education" a talk by Prof. Vimala Ramachandran at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 5th September 2013
Time : 3:00 pm
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture on ‘Equity and Quality are Two Sides of the Same Coin in India’s School Education’ by Prof. Vimala Ramachandran, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
Abstract : The struggle for equality in education, at all levels is ultimately a struggle for quality. And who we are determines the quality of education we can access. The few good schools, colleges and technical institutions cater to a very small fraction of students; leaving the majority to deal with relatively low grade / poor quality education. The author shows that higher number of people in poverty, those from disadvantaged communities (SC, ST, new migrants, Muslim) end up attending schools that are more likely to have very poor facilities, indifferent teachers (in government schools) or poorly qualified teachers (in low cost private schools) or are multi-grade with two or more classes sitting together with one teacher. Such schools are now referred to as high-poverty schools. Such schools exist in both the government sector as well as the private sector. Income inequality has led to the increasing spatial segregation of high-income families from middle income and low-income families – with the poorest often relegated to the outskirts of cities or specific habitations in rural areas. Equally, over half of the students enrolled in higher education go to poor quality institution – what is called C or D grade institutions and studying subjects that do not help them gain employment or be self-employed. This spatial segregation of the rich from the middle class and from the very poor – essentially implies that they go to different kinds and differentially endowed schools. The economic cake is expanding fast for some people in India. New opportunities are available to those who have been able to access quality education. There is a clamour for better schools, English education and new technologies. Quality is the new battleground. Quality is the heart of the struggle for equality and justice. The unwillingness or inability to define what we really mean by quality and institutional mechanisms necessary to realize standards of quality is ultimately a political question. Unfortunately, the communist parties, the social democrats, the centrist liberals and the right-wing ideologues all are on the same side in the education quagmire, together contributing to the growing schism between the rhetoric and reality.
Speaker : Prof. Vimala Ramachandran is Professor (Teacher Management and Development) in National University for Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She has been working on elementary education, girls’ education and women’s empowerment. She conceptualised and launched Mahila Samakhya (1988-89), a women’s education programme of Government of India programme based in the Department of Education, MHRD. She established Educational Resource Unit in 1998 as a network of researchers and practitioners working on education and empowerment. She has published extensively on education policy and practice, gender issues and women’s empowerment. Her publications include Vimala Ramachandran and Kameshwari Jandhyala, Cartographies of empowerment – tracing the journey of Mahila Samakhya, 2012, New Delhi, Rashmi Sharma and Vimala Ramachandran, The Elementary Education System in India: Exploring institutional structures, processes and dynamics, 2008, New Delhi, Vimala Ramachandran (ed.) Hierarchies of Access: Gender and Equity in Primary Education, 2004, New Delhi, Vimala Ramachandran, Getting children back to school: Case studies in primary education, 2003, New Delhi.
Related Events : Talks | Education
Entry : Free (Seating on First-Come First-Served basis)
Place : Seminar Room, First Floor, Library Building, Nehru Memorial Museum & Library (NMML), Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg, New Delhi
Venue Info : Events | About | Map | Nearest Metro Station - 'Race Course(Yellow Line)'
Event Description : The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library cordially invites you to a Public Lecture on ‘Equity and Quality are Two Sides of the Same Coin in India’s School Education’ by Prof. Vimala Ramachandran, National University of Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi.
Abstract : The struggle for equality in education, at all levels is ultimately a struggle for quality. And who we are determines the quality of education we can access. The few good schools, colleges and technical institutions cater to a very small fraction of students; leaving the majority to deal with relatively low grade / poor quality education. The author shows that higher number of people in poverty, those from disadvantaged communities (SC, ST, new migrants, Muslim) end up attending schools that are more likely to have very poor facilities, indifferent teachers (in government schools) or poorly qualified teachers (in low cost private schools) or are multi-grade with two or more classes sitting together with one teacher. Such schools are now referred to as high-poverty schools. Such schools exist in both the government sector as well as the private sector. Income inequality has led to the increasing spatial segregation of high-income families from middle income and low-income families – with the poorest often relegated to the outskirts of cities or specific habitations in rural areas. Equally, over half of the students enrolled in higher education go to poor quality institution – what is called C or D grade institutions and studying subjects that do not help them gain employment or be self-employed. This spatial segregation of the rich from the middle class and from the very poor – essentially implies that they go to different kinds and differentially endowed schools. The economic cake is expanding fast for some people in India. New opportunities are available to those who have been able to access quality education. There is a clamour for better schools, English education and new technologies. Quality is the new battleground. Quality is the heart of the struggle for equality and justice. The unwillingness or inability to define what we really mean by quality and institutional mechanisms necessary to realize standards of quality is ultimately a political question. Unfortunately, the communist parties, the social democrats, the centrist liberals and the right-wing ideologues all are on the same side in the education quagmire, together contributing to the growing schism between the rhetoric and reality.
Speaker : Prof. Vimala Ramachandran is Professor (Teacher Management and Development) in National University for Educational Planning and Administration, New Delhi. She has been working on elementary education, girls’ education and women’s empowerment. She conceptualised and launched Mahila Samakhya (1988-89), a women’s education programme of Government of India programme based in the Department of Education, MHRD. She established Educational Resource Unit in 1998 as a network of researchers and practitioners working on education and empowerment. She has published extensively on education policy and practice, gender issues and women’s empowerment. Her publications include Vimala Ramachandran and Kameshwari Jandhyala, Cartographies of empowerment – tracing the journey of Mahila Samakhya, 2012, New Delhi, Rashmi Sharma and Vimala Ramachandran, The Elementary Education System in India: Exploring institutional structures, processes and dynamics, 2008, New Delhi, Vimala Ramachandran (ed.) Hierarchies of Access: Gender and Equity in Primary Education, 2004, New Delhi, Vimala Ramachandran, Getting children back to school: Case studies in primary education, 2003, New Delhi.
Related Events : Talks | Education
"Equity and Quality are Two Sides of the Same Coin in India’s School Education" a talk by Prof. Vimala Ramachandran at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 5th September 2013
!["Equity and Quality are Two Sides of the Same Coin in India’s School Education" a talk by Prof. Vimala Ramachandran at Teen Murti House, Teen Murti Marg > 3pm on 5th September 2013]()
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Thursday, September 05, 2013
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