The cartoon controversy provides the possibility of interrogating the functioning of the academic system to understand its relationship with the downtrodden masses. A new deliberation is needed in order to make the academic world more sensitive and responsive towards the issues and concerns of the subaltern-oppressed communities. This will be an ethical incentive for the present-day dalit movement in India and can bring greater democratisation to the education system. Harish Wankhede...

The decision to reform the IIT selection process from next year by introducing a weightage for candidates’ Class XII board marks appears headed for a court battle. Alumni association members from the IITs of Delhi, Kanpur and Kharagpur met here today and decided to move “various high courts” within a week against the IIT Council’s “unilateral” decision that overruled objections from several IIT senates. IIT teachers and senates have cited how the...

-The Hindu The organising secretary of the All-India Forum for Right to Education, D. Ramesh Patnaik, has expressed fears that the much-debated legislation that promises universal education might end up facilitating greater commercialisation of education. Speaking at a seminar here on Friday, organised by Karnataka Janashakti, he cited several provisions in the Right to Education (RTE) Act — such as paying for seats under quota in private schools rather than focusing on...

A close reading of the Political Science textbook shows that it is complex, moves beyond pat answers, and treats the Constitution as a living document. It was produced in the light of the National Curriculum Framework 2005, which in itself was a major attempt to democratise education, and reverse the National Curriculum Framework 2000 which was casteist and sexist. Kumkum Roy (kumkumr@yahoo.com) is with the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru...

School texts that teach young minds that politics is a contentious and critical but reasonable activity, that it is not merely a set of demands and commands, and that politicians have to be responsive and accountable are naturally disliked by the political class. This is the tone of all the Political Science textbooks of Standards IX-XI brought out after 2006. The nurturing of a culture of critical public opinion seems...