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We cut teacher's pal |
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EDUCATIONAL |
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Aptitude testing |
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By Sunit Dhawan |
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SHIPRA has just completed her XII in the non-medical stream from a small town near the national Capital. She has quite a few entrance exams lined up before her and is busy preparing for these. Her parents -- and even grandparents -- are worried about her career.
"She is terribly confused regarding the choice of a good course, and so are we... the kid is working really hard and I pray she succeeds in getting admitted to whatever is good for her," says her mother.
Shipra's case is a representative one. Most students find themselves on crossroads after passing out from school and/or college. "What next?" is the question that gives many a sleepless night to the students as well as their parents.
The vast variety of career and higher education options available add to the confusion, with considerable peer pressure and "valuable" advice from relatives, family-friends and other acquaintances playing their own role in influencing the crucial decision.
It is generally seen that instead of going in for aptitude testing of their child to decide his/her choice of discipline, the modern-day parents seek and follow the advice of "successful" acquaintances and parents of already "selected" or "settled" children in their circle.
"Parents usually go by the prevailing trend in the job market, without considering the core competence of their child," observes Dr Jyotsana, Chairperson, Department of Applied Psychology, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar.
She maintains that choosing a discipline in accordance with a child's innate aptitude would be beneficial in the long run. "A person pursuing the field of his/her core competence will work with more enthusiasm and have fewer adjustment problems and lesser job-related stress and burn-outs which are so prevalent these days," asserts the psychologist.
A scientifically prepared aptitude test brings out the real inclinations, capabilities and skill-set of an individual. It provides one a chance to get acquainted with one's inner self and tread a path closest to one's heart.
Dr Jyotsana, who also runs an aptitude-testing and counselling centre at the university, points out that in certain cases, parents complain that they had put their child in the stream of his/her own "interest", but it did not work out well.
"Here, it should be clearly understood that at such a tender age, a child is not capable of self-assessment. Moreover, the influence of external factors like the compulsion to pick a study area from a limited set of options, line chosen by friends and outside impression of a course or institute are more likely to influence his/her decision," she explains.
Then, in the present era, the career-path adopted by the youngsters has become a status symbol for the parents, who want to realise their own unfulfilled desires through their children or just love to boast about their hefty pay packages and perks.
So great is the charm of money that most parents want their wards to pursue a career which offers a high remuneration. However, in the mad quest, they not only tend to overlook their innate abilities and desires, but also become willing to compromise on good moral values and ethics, for which they have to pay a heavy price in the long run.
Parents usually take no notice of the basic principle of psychology, which underlines the concept of individual differences. They need to understand that like all individuals, their ward has also been programmed to chart a distinct course.
In the light of the given observations, a standardised and scientific aptitude-testing procedure becomes all the more significant. Apart from helping the students know themselves better, it also guides them as to what track they should take to exploit their potential to the fullest.
However, due to lack of awareness, coupled with the limited availability of aptitude-testing centres, very few parents take their wards for aptitude assessment before zeroing in on a field of study. Hence, commissioning of more such centres, along with spreading of awareness about the vital significance of aptitude-testing, is the need of the day.
The students, with the help of aptitude-testing, should try to have a realistic judgment of their capabilities and venture into a field best suited to these.
On their part, the parents should also understand that their child has got a unique identity, psyche and his/her own set of capabilities and limitations.
So, instead of having unrealistic expectations from their wards and pressurising them to fall in line, they should try to know their children's bent of mind and play a proactive role in realising their dreams. (Courtesy: The Tribune, Chandigarh) |
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Under siege and fear |
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By Ajay Kumar Singh |
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WOMEN survivors of the attacks on Christians in Orissa are still traumatized two years later, a new study of their plight has found.
"What we saw in Kandhamal is disgusting. Women there are living under siege and fear," says Jalinder Adsule, a member of the study team who visited the district recently.
Survivors have become fatalistic and submissive, he said.
The government has done nothing to restore the abused women's confidence, team leader Gita Balakrishnan said.
Other team members said there were still few signs of peace.
‘Not peace but terror and fears'
"It is not peace but terror and fears that stalk Kandhamal society," said Sister Pramila Topno.
The study was made by 11 students and six teachers from Mumbai's Church-managed social work college, Nirmala Niketan (house of innocence).
Team members interviewed nearly 300 women in 55 villages of Kandhamal.
The study aimed to gather better information on the extent of violence on women during the anti-Christian riots that rocked Kandhamal for seven weeks starting Aug. 24, 2008.
Nothing has been done for women who were forced to hide in forests for days during the seven-week long violence, said Sister Anitha Chettiar, a member of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary congregation that runs Nirmala Niketan and a senior lecturer there.
Many women had refused to report attacks on them because their violators were protected by police, she said.
Jaycelyn Andrade, a student, said the Kandhamal women now view violence as a way of life.
They have "internalized fear and believe they cannot get out of this sense of insecurity." |
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UK's Equality Act |
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By UCAN |
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NEW DELHI (UCAN) --Christian and dalit groups say that a new British law, which equates caste discrimination with racism and thus punishable, would help fight caste prejudices worldwide.
"We need to welcome it," says Father Cosmon Arokiaraj, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishops’ office for people belonging to poor castes and tribes. He said the British move would help outlaw caste discrimination.
The Equality Act 2010, which the House of Lords passed on March 24, aims to place discrimination based on disability, sex, race and other grounds under one piece of legislation.
The act that treats caste discrimination as an aspect of racism will become a law in the United Kingdom when the House of Commons passes it.
Father Arokiaraj said the law will help "internationalize" the issue of caste discrimination suffered by millions of socially and economically underprivileged Indians for generations.
Indian society is divided into four major castes and all those born outside these are regarded as outcastes and "untouchables." These groups are together called dalit (oppressed). Although outlawed, Indian villages continue to discriminate against dalit people.
In 2002, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) called all member states of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD), including India and the UK, to enact laws aiming to end descent-based discrimination.
"Punish those who practice discrimination"
India maintains that caste is not a form of racial discrimination and has been successful in keeping caste out of the resolution adopted at the 2001 Durban conference on racism.
All India Catholic Union secretary John Dayal said caste discrimination should be considered "as bad as" racism and "people who practice it should be punished."
He said his organization is "quite happy with the British move. We have been camping for this in the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination," he said.
Dayal said that the Indian government is resisting the move because of "the hold of the upper caste" in the government. He said they know "how seriously they would be affected by international condemnation of caste."
Dalit leaders say although caste discrimination is predominately a South Asian social phenomenon, millions suffer its adverse effects because there are more dalit people than those with caste.
Udit Raj, who heads a confederation of dalit and tribal organizations, said he also "supports" the new British law. "It has been our long standing demand," he said. |
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Women's Bill of rights |
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By Virginia Saldanha |
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THE passage of the Women's Reservation Bill by the Upper House of parliament in India is a small but nonetheless significant step for the realization of women's political rights.
As the dust and excitement over the passage of the bill past its first hurdle settles, its flaws are coming into sharper focus. What is described as a fatal flaw is the principle of reservation based on rotation of constituencies reserved for women in every election.
Long standing members of parliament could be uprooted from a constituency they have carefully nursed over the years. It will not allow women candidates to build their credibility in any one constituency. Women would always be pitched against women and 33 per cent would be a capped number of women present in parliament and legislative bodies.
Another major concern has been voiced by those representing an important section of the population coming under the scheduled castes, tribes and other backward classes, as well as the Muslim electorate who already have reservations in parliament. (Only SC and ST categories get the benefit of reservation -- Editor)
They object that the bill obliges them to accommodate women in 33 per cent of their current reserved seats. They demand an allotment of additional reservations for women falling in these categories to be included in the bill.
The opposition is now wary of the political mileage received by the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, especially the Congress party, with the passage of the bill in the Upper House the day after International Women's Day.
Political parties that supported the bill in the Upper House will probably not support it in the Lower House without some more drama and changes to eliminate the two major flaws.
While politicians play their games, women have to seize the opportunity of the moment and try to move ahead. The ball is now in our court!
Taking up the challenge
When the idea of reservation was first mooted, there was a fear that not having enough competent women to enter the election fray, parties would install female proxies who are relatives of party members.
Given the socialization of women in India, it is possible that such women would never think of opposing their husbands or other male relatives when it comes to taking a stand on issues concerning women. So reservation of seats for women would not really benefit women.
In India, many women have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition access or pure neglect.
When the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution Act 1992, was introduced, providing reservation to women in all the three tiers of the panchayat (local self-government), there was much skepticism about how this would work.
The same fear of men operating as women's proxies was voiced.
But it was the women's groups/organizations that took up the challenge and traveled extensively to the villages of India to train these illiterate women in their roles as panchayat members and leaders.
Today the many success stories of change and development brought about by these women have silenced the cynics.
The recent United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report released on the occasion of International Women's Day 2010 reveals that India stands 99th in the world in women's participation in politics, behind its neighbors Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The report reveals that China and India together account for more than 85 million of the nearly 100 million "missing" women estimated to have died from discriminatory treatment in health care, nutrition access or pure neglect ―- or because they were never born in the first place.
It concluded that "pervasive gender inequality remains a barrier to progress, justice and social stability, and deprives the region of a significant source of human potential."
Women's perspectives in governance
To bring about change in the reality of women in India, it is imperative that women's perspectives are reflected in all aspects of governance.
Therefore the urgency of inducting more women who can operate autonomously in their own right cannot be over emphasized. To achieve this, women's organizations in the country have to lobby and put pressure on political parties to reserve 33 per cent of the seats they are likely to contest for women.
In this way, women would have the opportunity to gain not just 33 per cent but a higher number of seats in decision-making bodies in government.
It has been proven time and again that women have a higher win-ability rate. Studies have shown that women's participation has brought about greater transparency in local self-governments, and women are more honest and hard working. This has raised their credibility in political participation.
It is now time for women's groups/organizations to step in and train women to take up the responsibility of becoming elected representatives of women in India.
The bill has a long, tumultuous and stormy journey yet through the Lower House and the state legislatures before it is sent to the president for assent.
Women have to facilitate this journey with serious lobbying to make the bill viable to bring in independent thinking women who will represent women's concerns.
Many Catholic women express the hope that the Church follows the example of the government in including women in decision-making bodies as well. Perhaps we have to work using the newly released Gender Policy of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India to this end. (UCAN)
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Virginia Saldanha is the former executive secretary of the FABC Office of Laity and family |
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iPad and MySchool |
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By Michael Mullins |
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A WEEK ago, two potentially life-changing events took place. One was the announcement of Apple's iPad computer reading tablet, and the other was the launch of the Federal Government's MySchool website.
Immediately Apple afficianados sought to turn the iPad into an object of worship, and educators who feared the consequences of the website demonised it.
British actor and tech guru Stephen Fry spoke of 'joining the congregation at the Church of Apple' for what amounted to a service to venerate the iPad. He said: 'You want to fondle it and lick it and play with it.'
Meanwhile, there was fearmongering within the education unions, with Australian Education Union president Angelo Gavrielatos promoting concern about 'damaging league tables that will now only be one click away as a result of the website'.
Both the Apple iPad and the MySchool website will enhance our well-being if we use them responsibly and overcome the urge to deify or demonise. Each is a means to an end, and holds particular promise.
The iPad is priced to appeal to the mass market rather than an elite, and it could hold the key to a manageable large-scale transition from print to electronic books, magazines and newspapers. Such a move is both environmentally desirable, and inevitable, and it needs to be made as painless and equitable as possible.
Sydney Archdiocesan Executive Director of Catholic Schools Dr Dan White said the MySchool website could serve a useful purpose in providing rich, meaningful data about schools' achievements that would generate constructive dialogue between schools and parents.
But he stressed that simplistic 'one-dimensional' use of the data could be damaging, and his example hints that such improper practice could have a negative impact on some of the most needy students. (Courtesy: Cathnews.com) |
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