Make education policy report public

The committee headed by former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, which was appointed to give proposals on framing a new national education policy, has submitted its report. While the Human Resource Development Ministry has not made it official, some highlights of the report have come into the public realm. The committee’s brief was to help in preparing a new education policy as such. The existing policy is about three decades old and it has to be updated in view of the inadequacies that came to the fore during its implementation, the changes which have taken place in society and the new challenges and tools of education that have emerged. The crucial role of the education policy in shaping the future of the country is well-known. A sound education policy lays the foundation for the social, economic and scientific development of the country and is important in moulding the personalities of future citizens.

Considering the importance of the committee’s task, it is surprising that its composition was narrow and lacked authority and expertise in the area of education. Apart from TSR Subramanian, other members were former chief secretaries of Delhi and Gujarat and a former home secretary of Delhi. The only member who had some association with education is a former NCERT director J C Rajput who had become controversial during the time of the last NDA government when he faced charges of trying to saffronise education. There are many eminent educationists and experts in the country whose services the government could have utilised. It passes understanding why an important committee on education should be dominated by former bureaucrats. The very composition of the committee is bound to attract resistance to its proposals.

Subramanian has said that the members of the committee have held extensive discussions with all stake-holders all over the country before formulating its proposals. But that may not be enough to make the proposals widely acceptable.

The committee is thought to have recommended the holding of a national test for recruitment of teachers. It is not known how this is different from the existing National Eligibility Test (NET). There are also proposals on improving the quality of education at both school and college levels, the roles of private sector and foreign universities, changes in the examination system, skill development and vocational education and the restructuring of bodies like UGC and AICTE. There is the need for a wide and informed public debate on the proposals before they form the basis for the new policy. The government should make them public at the earliest.

Source | http://www.deccanherald.com (Tuesday 31 May 2016
News updated at 12:19 PM IST)

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/

Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016.  The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

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Print publications’ circulation rises, finds ABC report

Print circulation of member publications grew at 5.04% CAGR between 2008 and 2015, says Audit Bureau of Circulations 

New Delhi: The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC), the non-profit body for measuring and auditing newspaper and magazine circulation in the country said on Monday that print circulation of its member publications grew at 5.04% CAGR (compound annual growth rate) between 2008 and 2015.

“This growth by print publications was achieved due to new titles entering various market places as well as existing titles expanding their reach by starting new editions/printing centres at various locations,” the media auditor said in its latest report.

Most member publications certified by ABC (across various languages) have shown a growth in circulation. 

Hindi publications were at the forefront of this. 

According to Mallikarjun Das, chief executive at Starcom MediaVest, a media buying agency, Hindi and regional newspapers in India are seeing volume growth. “They are growing organically and getting more and more mainstream,” he said.

English newspapers are growing, too, but not as much, said the report. 

“English dailies are growing on the back of premiumization. Circulation growth is low but the revenues are coming in from high end and premium advertising positions like jacket ads and full pages,” explained Das.

According to media agency GroupM, part of global advertising group WPP Plc, print media is expected to have a better year in 2016 compared to 2015 in terms of advertising revenue. The findings were part of its ‘This Year Next Year’ report published in January 2016. 

Print advertising will expand 6%, compared to 5.2% last year, the GroupM report said. Print advertising is estimated to touch Rs.17,674 crore by the end of 2016.

“The increase in ad spends expected from print-heavy sectors like auto, banking and finance and the government sector augurs well for newspapers. Regional advertising of telecom and consumer product brands will benefit language dailies,” said the report.

ABC will also be entering the field of digital measurement along with Nielsen, a global information and measurement company in the next few months.

“The digital measurement service will be generally available for the benefit of all digital properties within the next few months,” ABC said in a statement.

Source | Mint – The Wall Street Journal | 31 May 2016

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/

Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016.  The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

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Word’s worth: Kids with access to books earn more as adults, says study

Children with access to books are likely to earn more financially as adults than those who grow up with few or no books, a new study suggests. The research found a strong association between the earnings of adults and whether they grew up surrounded by books as kids.

Researchers from University of Padua in Italy studied 6,000 men born in nine European countries from the period 1920 to 1956. They looked at whether, at the age of 10, a child lived in a house with fewer than 10 books, a shelf of books, a bookcase with up to 100 books, two bookcases, or more than two bookcases.

Researchers found that an additional year of education increased a man’s average lifetime earnings by 9%. The returns varied markedly according to socio-economic background, the Guardian reported.

Men who grew up in houses with less than a shelf of books earned 5% more as a result of the extra year’s education, compared with 21% more for those who had access to a lot of books, researchers said. Those who had access to books were more likely to move to better-earning opportunities in cities than those without books, they said.

Researchers said that the number of books in a house can effectively predict the cognitive test scores of a child, which are important for economic success in life. The findings were published in the Economic Journal.

Source | Hindustan Times | 30 May 2016

Regards

Pralhad Jadhav

Senior Manager @ Library

Khaitan & Co

Blog | http://pralhad-fyilibrarian.blogspot.in/

Best Paper Award | Received the Best Paper Award at TIFR-BOSLA National Conference on Future Librarianship: Innovation for Excellence (NCFL 2016) on April 23, 2016.  The title of the paper is “Removing Barriers to Literacy: Marrakesh VIP Treaty”

Note | If anybody use these post for forwarding in any social media coverage or covering in the Newsletter please give due credit to those who are taking efforts for the same.