Indigenus

More reason to cheer for would-be technology students. The Indian government has just approved nine more National Institutes of Technology (NITs) that will become operational from next year onwards either on lease campuses or in older NITs. The campuses themselves will take five more years to come up.

The move comes close on the heels of the HRD ministry’s revolutionary measures to change the way this country has traditionally viewed education.

For starters, these institutes would cost the government close to Rs 2,350 crore and most of them have been planned in the north-eastern states, seemingly to make up for their gross shortage of professional tech schools in the region. So, next year on, if all goes well, we will have NITs in Manipur, Mizoram, Goa , Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Pudducherry, Uttarakhand and Delhi.

These would join the list of 20 NITs already operational in the country.

This brings us back to a question debated on the Nature India forum for long – are more institutes the answer to the problems facing India’s science education. Is quantity the key or quality or none? Where is reform most needed?

Alongside this, the government also approved amendments to the Organs Transplantation Act. Now there would be stringent penalties on persons or hospitals violating the provisions. A relook at the regulations was long due, what with the blatant violations to the act and a thriving human organ trade in India.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on September 17, 2009
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The premier science academies of the country -- Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and The National Academy of Science, India -- had a brainstorming meeting earlier this month. Following extensive deliberations, the trio has prepared a position paper on the post-school science education in the country. The need for reforms in learning sciences at the post-school level has been duly emphasised in the paper.

The academies have mooted an integrative and broad-based training -- the four-year B. S. degree -- at select centres. The programme would enable graduates to directly enter the professional job market, or to pursue a doctoral degree (Ph. D.) research programme.

If everything goes well, the +2 qualified student could chose from the following options in science and technology next year on:
1. A 4-year B. S. followed by Ph. D. in basic sciences, with a provision for early exit with M.Sc degree or dual degrees after completion.
2. 4-year B. Tech. followed by Ph. D in basic sciences.
3. 4-year B. S. followed by M. tech/Ph.D. in professional (technology) field.
4. 3-year B. Sc. followed by 2-year M. Sc. and then Ph. D or 3-year B. Sc followed by integrated M.Sc.-Ph. D.
5. 3-year B. Sc. followed by 2-year B. Tech.
6. 5-year integrated M. Sc. followed by Ph. D.
7. Vocational courses.

Looks like science education in this country will finally get the long due overhauling it deserves.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on November 16, 2008
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There are murmurs in Vigyan Bhavan about a proposal to set up the country's first all-women engineering and technology institute in President Pratibha Patil's hometown in Maharashtra. The HRD ministry is mulling over the proposal for this exclusive women's technology school in Amravati near Nagpur on Patil's recommendation. The country's first woman president was apparently worried about the small number of girl students getting into the IITs.

The proposal has met criticism on these accounts: 1) Will there be enough women qualifying to fill up one IIT-type school if there aren't enough in the existing ones? 2) WIll the standard of students not suffer if the target is to fill the school up somehow? 3) Is it prudent to make technical education gender-specific?

What are your views?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on June 26, 2008
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Should India replace its three-year B.sc degree course with a four-year BS course modelled on the US pattern? Opinions so far are tilted towards the favourable as the idea seems to have met far more approvals than disapprovals.

The four-year course is expected to be introduced in major Indian institutes -- the Indian Institute of Science, the Indian Institutes of Technology -- and then some universities across the country next year onwards. In the four-year course, students will be exposed to the core science streams in the first year and will be expected to choose their area of specialisation from the second year. The idea is to replace drab, single track science with an interesting, inter-disciplinary approach.

The idea was mooted by the Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS) which urged the other two science education bodies National Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Science Academy to look at the merits of the US model.

It would be interesting to hear from students and academics on what they think of this. Especially in times when the number of students seeking admission to science streams is not so flattering. Will this mean more students coming in to do science or will an extra year be a dampener?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on June 20, 2008
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Eminent Indian mathematician and physicist Alladi Ramakrishnan died at the age of 85 this week. Known for his innovative thinking and openness to new ideas, he created the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai inspired by Neils Bohr, who visited his family home there.

Coincidentally, in a study by World Bank economists (the results of which would certainly have won Ramakrishnan's approval), India has been warned to bridge the gap in mathematical knowledge among its school goers or face a huge rich-poor divide based on math skills! The researchers tested 14 year old students in Rajasthan and Orissa to find that they were either very good or very bad in the subject. The performance was judged against benchmarks set in 51 other countries. Close to 17 million Indian students did not meet the lowest international benchmark of basic mathematical knowledge. This puts average Indian students among the worst scorers in mathematics. However, those who score well actually score exceptionally well -- close to one lakh such students.

What are the reasons behind this sharp divide? Where are we failing? What can be done bridge this gap?

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on June 11, 2008
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After the management schools, now the technology schools are thinking of doubling their tuition fees. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have proposed to charge students Rs 50,000 annually as against the current Rs 21,000 to Rs 25,000. The proposal put forth by the standing committee of the IIT Council is being reviewed by the Indian ministry of Human Resource Development. If all goes well, the new fee structure would be applicable to admissions in 2008.

Wonder what future students and teachers have to say to the proposed hike.

Posted by Subhra Priyadarshini on April 02, 2008
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