Education: Schools without students

Yesterday’s Deccan Chronicle carried a brief coverage on the report ‘Elementary Education in India 2005-06’ by National University of Education Planning and Administration (NUEPA). This survey on 11, 24,033 primary, upper primary, secondary and higher secondary schools in 35 States and Union Territories of India has some incredible revelations. Samples:

- over 32,000 schools (2.9%) had zero enrollment; nearly half of these are primary schools in the public sector in rural areas

- about 70,000 schools (6.17%) have less than 25 students

- about 1,71,000 have between 25 and 50 children on the rolls

- the enrollment average for all the schools together was 150

This, of course, is an appalling situation when the country is on a literacy drive. While reading the report I was thinking that the fall in birth rate is the major factor for the lack of students particularly at the primary level.

But I was in for a shock when I came across the statement by a spokesman of NUEPA, which is quoted here: “The main reasons for zero enrollments is that these schools either don’t have a single teacher or they may be having para-teachers.” Schools without teachers won’t attract children. That is the basic truth. What is the purpose in calling them schools except perhaps to boost statistics of the number of education institutions?

Something is terribly wrong. Who is responsible?

Ends.

Also see:

Autobiography of a School

Education sector requirements - big business opportunity

Raja Ravi Varma: A movie on the Royal Painter

The life of the great Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) is to be made into a Malayalam feature film. Lenin Rajendran, the award-winning director who had made ‘Swathi Thirunal’ a couple of decades back, is busy finalizing the script and other arrangements for the shooting of the movie, which is to start in September. Suresh Gopi, a ‘super star’ of Malayalam films is to play the lead role. The film is expected to be released around Christmas.

Raja Ravi Varma was born into the Kilimanoor royal family of Kerala. His talent was evident at an early age from the charcoal drawings he did on the palace walls. His uncle who used paint in the Tanjore (Thanjavoor) tradition was quick to spot the potential and gave the lad his first lessons.

The then Maharaja of Travancore, Ayiliam Thirunal, took the boy to Trivandrum and arranged for his training, first in water colors, followed by Tanjore style and then oils. The young artist was highly impressed by the by the European paintings in the royal collection and he developed a fusion of Indian traditions with Western techniques.

Raja Ravi Varma came into the limelight when he won the first prize at the Madras Painting Exhibition in 1873. The same year he became internationally famous by winning at Vienna Exhibition.

Raja Ravi Varma’s great creations can be classified into three - portraits, groups, compositions based on epics. He did a few landscapes as well. He painted gypsies, milk maid, aristocracy, British officers, and maharajas, among others. Strangely, his portrayals of the epics gave the lead to what came to be known as ‘Calendar Art’. Many people came to believe that his paintings depicted gods and other characters as they really looked.

Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings had their influence in more serious fields also. It is said that the coiffure of Mohiniyattam performers was changed to the hairstyle of the Kerala ladies in his paintings. In Kathakali, the style of the mask for certain characters was modified according to what the royal painter depicted.

Photographs of some Raja Ravi Varma paintings are reproduced below. To the best of my knowledge, these are public domain.

Also see:
A village artist
Popularizing Raja Ravi Varma

Photos: Electric blue flowers

Can you identify these flowers? Blue flowers are not very common. Initially I thought these are Ixora coccinea (Rubiaceae) [Common names: Jungle geranium, Rugmini (Hindi), Vedchi (Tamil), Rangan (Bengali), Chethi (Malayalam)]. But I have my doubts.



Photos: (C) KO Isaac
Also see:

Water lilies: here is a picture of nature's perfection, imperfection

Photos: Horses on beach

Gossip on the beach
Photo: (C) KO Isaac
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Images: Two Faces

Book Review: The Other Side of Laurie Baker

The Other Side of Laurie Baker by his wife Dr. Elizabeth Baker is a combination of mainly three things: reference material, biography fused with autobiography, love story. The achievements of Laurie Baker in the field of architecture, particularly low cost housing, are well known. But there was much more to the man.

This book presents so touchingly the long journey of Laurence Wilfred Baker (1917-2007) from Birmingham, UK where he was born, to Trivandrum, India. Before this Associate Member (1938) of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) fully settled into his profession, World War II broke out. He joined the Friends Ambulance Unit raised by the Quakers and was sent to China where he worked with the suffering and the sick including lepers. Several letters of Baker reproduced in the book give a deep insight into the situation in UK and China during the war years.

The book describes Baker’s 1944 meeting with Gandhiji in Bombay while waiting for a passage to England. Gandhiji told him to return to India and work in the villages. The man did just that. In London he joined ‘The Mission to Lepers’ and was back in India in 1945. He went to Faziabad and teamed up with Dr. PJ Chandy from Kerala who was in charge of the leprosy hospital there. The two became good friends.

Now the love story begins. Dr. Chandy asked his sister Elizabeth who was then the Medical Superintendent of a hospital in Karimnagar to visit him. Laurie Baker was sent to meet her at Allahabad Railway Station. On the last day before she was to return to Karimnagar, ‘He took my hand and asked – “Will you marry me?” There was no hesitation from my part because, from the beginning of our acquaintance I was quite sure that we had to be together. It seemed to me the most normal thing to do.’ There were objections but finally they were married in 1948.

From then to 1963 was the ‘Himalayan era’ working together in remote areas in the hills. During that period Baker did a great deal of architectural work mainly building schools and hospitals using locally available materials. Then they came to Wagamon, Kerala and built a hospital, Mithraniketan (see drawing by Laurie Baker) for the tribes in the area. Finally the Bakers shifted to Trivandrum and it was there that Laurie Baker’s trail ended.

The Other Side of Laurie Baker is an interesting and inspiring book, which has some photographs as well. It is published by DC Books, Kottayam, India (Online Bookstore www.dcbookstore.com). The cover illustration is by Laurie Baker himself and the design by N. Ajayan. The 160 page book costs INR.90.

Ends.

Also see:

Laurie Baker - A Tribute.

Tellicherry, Cradle of Indian Cricket; Mahe River, English Channel?

Tellicherry which is a coastal town in north Kerala is sometimes referred to as the city of cricket, cakes and circus. Along with the rest of the country, Tellicherry which has a cricket ground that is 207 years old, is also celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of India’s entry into Test cricket. The Bi-centenary of the Tellicherry Municipal Cricket Ground (now Thalasserry Stadium) was celebrated in 2002 with a match between former Indian and Sri Lankan cricketers.

It is believed that Arthur Wellesley (1^st Duke of Wellington of Waterloo fame - see photo) brought cricket to Tellicherry in the 1790s when he was commanding the East India Company’s army in Kerala and Karnataka. What is interesting is that apart from the soldiers of the Tellicherry garrison, Wellesley introduced the game to the locals also. As a result, cricket became a way of life for the people of that area. Wellesley also took the game to Srirangapattinam after the British defeated Tippu Sultan of Mysore.

The locals formed Tellicherry Town Cricket Club in 1860, the year that cricket was introduced in Calcutta. There were regular tournaments and matches including Ranji Trophy fixtures at Tellicherry ever since.

It is said that Colin Cowdrey’s (Baron Cowdrey of Tonbridge, b. December 24, 1932, Bangalore, India) father laid the first proper pitch in Tellicherry. Colin himself is believed to have played the game there.

The cricket fervor continues unabated in Tellicherry, and nearby town of Kannur (Canannore).

Between Tellicherry (which was under the British) and Mahe (former French posession) is the Mahe River (Mayyazhi puzha). I believe it used to be jokingly referred to as ‘English Channel’!

Ends.

Also see:

Cricket in remote areas

On the Banks of River Mahe

Kerala photos: Village paths

Images from Olavipe where shadows sleep on lonely paths

No one visible up ahead,
no one approaches
from behind.
Not a footprint on the road.
Am l alone?

By Dharmakirti a seventh century Buddhist scholar from South India.

From:

Andrew Schelling

Photos © Top: Karthiki. Others TP.

Also see: Colors - beautiful photos

Photos: Raindrops by Isaac