The recipe for Indian higher education institutions to succeed in the global markets is excellence in academics, promoting contemporary socially relevant material, and enabling individuals (learners) to realise their full potential, suggests N Ravichandran.
India announces Padma Shri awards for 45 individuals, recognizing 'unsung heroes' like a former bus conductor who created the world's largest free library and a pediatrician who established Asia's first human milk bank.
A large-scale international study published in the journal, Molecular Psychiatry, has been tracking over 7 lakh individuals and has shown that 34.6 per cent of mental disorders begin before the age of 14 years, 48.4 per cent before 18 years and 62.5 per cent by the age of 25 years.
The story of Bihar's educational reform is a lesson for all reforms done halfway.
Eight of the top 10 employers showed a double-digit growth in fixed capital. Only one out of 10 showed a double-digit addition in employment.
'Our problem is not a budget deficit but a trust deficit. We need to trust our institutions and industries to innovate and lead. That is the way forward for India.'
Can change happen? Not unless the changemakers themselves want it since they benefit the most from the status quo, warns Biswajit Dasgupta.
'10 million Indians are currently living with dementia, and the number is expected to double by 2036.'
...and say bye to the humanities-science divide, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Prof Anantha Chandrakasan has been named Massachusetts Institute of Technology's new provost, the first Indian-American to serve in this leadership role.
'The Bhashini Mission has delivered a working technology at large scale, which is as good as or better than the one with MNC tech giants.'
What looks like convenience today might well be shaping a future where essential human skills quietly fade away.
'Indian private universities can provide world-class education at one fourth the cost, home comforts, and direct links to Indian and global industries.'
Gen Z, driven by AI anxiety and economic pragmatism, have concerns about pursuing passions as careers as they fear it may not make them enough sufficient income.
Generative AI is transforming workplaces but at a cost -- there are fewer jobs for young workers just entering the workforce, reveals a Goldman Sachs report.
'For 40 years, India valued only technical skills. IITs, coding -- that became everything.' 'Soft skills were sidelined. But those are the skills that will keep you employable now, not technical skills.'
There is no guarantee that if we speak in only Indian languages, all our faults will be washed away and India will shine. Why then do they bully and belittle the English-speaking? asks Shyam G Menon.
'I am not a mother and never had an abortion either, so I had to understand motherhood and child loss from anecdotal experiences of others.'
The government will not fund religious instruction like Quranic interpretation and Islamic law at madarsas (religious schools) but financially support regular subjects like maths and science that may soon be taught there as part of its modernisation process. The human resource development ministry will link madarsas with the National Institute of Open School and introduce mathematics, social sciences, Hindi, English and other regular subjects as part of modernisation.
'Perhaps the government should explain how the same scientific temper, which authored a precise landing for Chandrayaan-3, finds the periodic table and the theory of evolution not good enough for inclusion in the educational curriculum,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
'Does 99 percent guarantee character and capacity for an independent awareness of life or does it make you -- barring exceptions -- a compliant careerist beholden to governments and corporations?' 'What kind of political and social choices would such minds make?' asks Shyam G Menon.
Rediff reader Amarendra Palai writes about Charulatha Devi, a school teacher.
Beyond a point, competition is boring. The fun is in the doing, irrespective of outcome. By the time I was in college, I knew I valued awareness more than success, notes Shyam G Menon.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said India can never permit others to have a veto on its choices and will do whatever is right in the national interest and for the global good without being intimidated to conform. In a video message for a function in Mumbai on Sunday, he said when India is etched more deeply in global consciousness, its repercussions are truly profound. In a world grappling with unhealthy habits, stressed lifestyles or recurring climate events, there is much learning to be gained from India's heritage. But the world will only know when the countrymen take pride in it, he said.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
Dropping references to the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, the killing of Muslims in Gujarat riots and Hindutva, and tweaking the reference to Manipur's merger with India are among the latest set of revisions made public by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its textbooks.
'We are calling companies to set up assembly plants for mobile phones while all the components are imported.' 'Only the last turn of the screwdriver is done here. And you call it self-reliance, Atmanirbharta, etc.' 'Unless you invest in research, you will not climb up the ladder. But this government is happy getting sub-contract work.'
'To those who have just finished engineering or MCA or BSc, BBA, I will say they should take up whatever internship opportunities they are getting.' 'They should look for opportunities to learn the latest tools.' 'They should think innovative and try to solve problems. Only when you sharpen your skills, you will remain relevant.'
The coveted QS rankings indicate that India is slowly but steadily overtaking other nations in the field of education.
'...We should first look at and acknowledge what we have done to ourselves.' 'To not do so opens us to the accusation of rank hypocrisy and also reduces the stature of our globetrotting peaceniks,' asserts Aakar Patel.
'Most students find it difficult to cope with the way they are expected to learn at the IITs.' 'So, all the students face the same stress.' 'But those students who are mentally weak are more affected.'
The NCERT has cited 'overlapping' and 'irrelevant' as reasons for dropping those portions from the syllabus.
Presenting the Top 20 of 100 science colleges as per India Today's findings.
Presenting the Top 20 of 100 science colleges as per India Today's findings.
At this year's TIME ball in New York City on Thursday, April 25, you would have run into a Coimbatore-born American scientist, looking lovely in Sabyasachi Mukherjee designer finery, who would most likely have been hanging out with Dua Lipa.
Where does one find a man who shows no bitterness or animosity towards Hindus, even after a frenzied Hindu mob burnt his house down?, Jyoti Punwani asks in this tribute to a truly extraordinary Indian.
The School of Management and Labour Studies of the Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, invites applications for its Master of Arts Programme in Human Resource Management and Labour Relations.
'it's not just youth in India who are left behind because of their inability to find jobs; nearly two-thirds of Indian women of working ages do not participate at all in the paid labour force.'
Bihar education minister asked if the 'media person who posed queries to the topper is himself a great musician?'
'The response from the government using words like malicious, deliberate, etc is diverting from the real issue.' 'The indicators related to young children such as stunting or child mortality are a reflection of the social development in the country.' 'That's how we have to look at it and not ignore the issue by denying the data.'
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