Not everyone can figure out commerce Abhay Kumar defends Shri Ram College for its 100%

cut-off for non-commerce stude nts The latest controversy about the 100 per cent cut off marks in Shri Ram College of Commerce in the University of Delhi is a true reflection of a serious problem that our education system is facing. The health of any nation can be judged by the quality of education it provides to its citizen. Unfortunately our education is a sick industry. The independent India followed an education system where ad missions are based on either marks obtained in the last institution attended or the performance in a written test and interview, etc. The person who is seeking admission does not even care about his and her aptitude but runs after a course and a college whose brand value is determined by the market forces. Many years a go, medical education and engineering were the hottest cake in the market. Thing s have changed today. The government has completely failed in balancing the mark et equation of demand and supply. The two historical events have played a very significant role in today s situation are the economic liberalisation in 1990s and the implementation of the Mandal C ommission recommendation for reservation in the government sector. The economic liberalisation has created a vast middle class in India which aspires for good e ducation and can afford it because of its improved economic condition. But, the successive governments have completely failed to correspond supply to this emerg ing demand of the market. The Mandal Commission recommendations reduced the numb er of jobs in the government sector so sharply that the demand for corporate job s went up. That is why the demand for commerce and management education in India has gone up. Unfortunately, there is no corresponding increase in the number of colleges in t he country since the last so many years. The last college came up in the Univers ity of Delhi two decades back, and that too without proper infrastructure. It wa s established on the outskirts of Delhi, where nobody wants to go to study. Unio n cabinet minister Kapil Sibal must take moral responsibility and give a serious thought to this issue, rather than addressing the press without having a proper understanding of the issue. The big controversy about the 100 per cent cut-off is the result of a wrong perc eption. The Shri Ram College of Commerce has declared 96 per cent cut-off for th e BCom (Honours) course and 98.25 per cent for the Economics (Honours) course fo r the academic year 2011-2012. According to the college, the students of differe nt academic background are treated differently for admissions. The university co lleges decide their own cut-off on the basis of past experience and performance of the students coming from different streams. The subjects like economics, comm erce etc. are technical and everybody cannot do well, so colleges are well justi fied in making different criterion or categories and treating people from differ ent disciplines differently. One can disagree with the logic of this unequal treatment and justify that someo ne with a science background can do better than someone from commerce or any oth er discipline, but the feedback I get from different management institutes throu ghout the country suggests otherwise. In every management institute of the count ry, the non-commerce students find it very difficult to cope up with subjects li ke accounts, financial management, business law, human resource management, mark eting and other commerce-related subjects, whereas a commerce graduate finds it extremely easy. The debate the country witnessed on Wednesday on this issue was a completely nonsensical hype created by the electronic media without properly u nderstanding what was reported in the two leading newspapers of the country.

Now, the bigger question is how to solve this problem? In my opinion, the govern ment should invest more money in education, open more colleges throughout the co untry. Every state must have at least few centres of excellence, and people shou ld not be compelled to rush to Delhi for good education. The places like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad should also have many more colleges tha n the existing number, which is not able to meet the growing demand. Why can we not have an SRCC in Chandigarh, Guwahati, Ranchi and other parts of the country as well? I also believe that vocational education should be promoted again both at the state and the national levels. The other big issue is whether somebody with a science background should be enco uraged to change streams can be an interesting debate, and I think that they sho uld be encouraged to do so. This is a serious concern and it needs serious disco urse and government s strong will. Unfortunately almost every government, both at the state and the Centre, has misused its power and used education for political gains, be it saffronisation of education or reservation of every possible socia l category in the country. The government and the civil society must give a seri ous thought to this issue. The blockbuster Hindi film Three Idiots can be taken as a reference point for students and parents. The government must stop playing with education and do something very concrete as early as possible, otherwise in the next year the cut-off may reach 105 per cent. Abhay Kumar teaches political science at Shri Ram College of Commerce. Students left shocked as Delhi college cut-off reaches 100% But the SRCC says the controversy is irrelevant as nobody has applied in that ca tegory Ajachi Chakrabarti New Delhi IT HAS finally happened. You now need 100 per cent to get into a Delhi Universit y college*. For years, it has been the staple of middle class humour. Every June, a mother o f a college eligible kid will turn to another mother of a college eligible kid a nd say, At the rate these cut-offs are going, soon you ll need 100 per cent to get into a college. Delhi s prestigious Sri Ram College Commerce (SRCC) has now done just that, with t he first list of eligibility criteria for admission to its much-in-demand BCom ( Honours) course putting the cut-offs for one category of students at no less tha n cent per cent. The category of students who have to get such marks to enter the college consist s of those who have not studied any of Accountancy, Business Studies, Economics or Mathematics in Class XII. The college says these are essential subjects in th e Commerce stream, and the cut-off increases by one percentage point for every o ne of these subjects that the student does not take. This whole controversy is irrelevant, said a professor of the college, on conditio n of anonymity. In the last two years, we haven t received a single applicant from this category. At the most, people apply who have not studied Maths. Our cut-off s are based on the board results of our applicants. If they keep rising, our cut -offs will also rise. She also said that the college might officially cancel the category in the futur e if cut-offs increase further.

Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal said in a press conference with Delhi University Vice Chancellor Dinesh Singh that the cut-offs excluded studen ts from the science stream. Singh agreed with him, adding that there would be fo ur more cut-off lists, which should rectify the situation. 'It causes undue stress on the students as well as parents. There should be some procedure to make life easier for them,' says Rakesh Uppal, parent Sibal underlined the need for reforms in the admission process. This is the overa rching reform process which we now have to look into. Students should on the bas is of overall merit decide on which course they want to take up, he said. The country s media descended on the hapless college, leading to one student remar king that there were more journalists than people seeking admission. The candida tes and their parents expressed disbelief at the record cut-offs. These cut-offs are too high, said Rakesh Uppal, who had come all the way from Ludh iana with his family to get his daughter Siloni admitted into the college. It cau ses undue stress on the student as well as their parents. Kapil Sibal has said h e wants to reduce this stress, and he has done so for students of Class X. There should be some procedure to make life easier for Class XII students as well. Siloni, who had secured admission by getting the 96 per cent required from stude nts who have studied all four of the required students, was not as worried, howe ver. It is all right, we have worked hard for this and we are being rewarded, she said. Similarly unaffected was Utkarsh, a Commerce student from Mother s International, Delhi, who said that it was necessary to raise cut-offs for people who hadn t stud ied the essential subjects. We have studied these courses and have a base in them, which will be necessary in college, he said, before going in to get admission. People who haven t, will find i t harder to cope, and they should prove that they are good enough to be able to do so They should have higher cut-offs. But 100 per cent is a little unreal. Pallav Jain, a volunteer in the admission cell, said he had not seen any student s from the category, and that there were very few students who had applied witho ut having studied Commerce in school. Those who did, he said, mostly applied for BA (Hons) in Economics. He agreed, however, that most people he had met were disappointed with the high cut-offs.

NEW AGE WEEKLY Central Organ of the Communist Party of India

This Blog This Blog Loading... Saturday, June 18, 2011Massive CPI Rally for Telangana

From Kirankumar Bommagani Hyderabad: Hyderabad is integral part of Telangana. It is the life of Telangana. T elangana state is not acceptable without Hyderabad, said CPI general secretary A. B.Bardhan. He told the gathering that while fighting for formation of Maharastra , the then ruling party at the centre, Congress tried to give the state without Bombay. There was a strong protest and struggle continued with a slogan Without B ombay there is no Maharastra . Telanganites should fight with the same spirit, he added. Bardhan was addressing the mam moth gathering at Nizam college grounds in Hyderabad where the two Jathas launch ed by the CPI culminated in a huge public meeting. The Jathas launched had covered the Telangana region demanding Telangana bill in be taken up the coming session of the Parliament. It was one of the biggest eve r meeting held by the party. Tens of thousands of people came from distant place s. There were people from all ten districts of Hyderabad. Even the rains could n ot ruin the meeting. People did not even move when they got drenched as it was r aining. Addressing the vast crowds assembled, Bardhan explained that the CPI shifted its stand in favour of Telangana from its earlier support to Visalaandhra only afte r taking into consideration various aspects of the issue and deliberating on the m in depth. It is unfortunate that despite having abundant natural wealth with n umber of rivers, Telangana has always been bereft of any initiative towards deve lopment. In spite of the number of agreements and government orders, the injusti ce continued to erode the region. Bardhan held the central government responsible for the plight of people in both the regions in Andhra Pradesh. He said that for destroying the amicable atmosph ere in both the regions and disturbing the cordial relations between the two, it is the government of prime minister Man Mohan Singh as well as his Minsiter P.C hidambaram, who must be held accountable. It was P Chidambaram who had declared at midnight once that the process of Telan gana formation had been started and only next day, went on his words. It created a great flutter in the state. A committee was appointed by central government u nder the chairmanship of Justice Sri Krishna to find ways to resolve the issue, but there arose further complications in the process. The committee came out wit h five more options. Justice Sri Krishna report, in its unpublished 8th Chapter, recommended brutal suppression of the agitation. With the options suggested, th e rift between the two streams of agitations were to widen even further. It also advised to manage the media as well as the political parties accordingly. How c ould Justice Sri Krishna come out with such recommendations, asked Bardhan. Bardhan said that the CPI is not taking part in the agitation with other parties or organisations, because we are against the smear campaign, which would promot e hatred between people of different regions, in the process of agitation for se parate Telangana. We are agitating independently in the region, he said. Bardhan appealed to the political parties launch a country wide joint agitation against corruption and black money. In coming few days, he said the CPI will tak e it up with the likeminded parties. CPI has been struggling for these issues si nce long. It was years before the babas or annas, that the CPI had brought up th e issues in the Parliament. It was in 2008 that the initiative was taken. CPI Deputy General Secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said Congress MPs from Tel angana region should resign and join with people in agitation. He warned that ce ntral government was trying to impose Gorkhaland kind of solution to Telangana, an d it was not at all acceptable. He demanded that government of India should brin g back black money and use them to cut down the growing gap between rich and poo r in the country. Otherwise, rulers will face the revolutions, similar to that o f Arab nations, and police, military cannot help them. The CPI, unlike other parties, is the only party in the state voicing single sta nd in support of Telangana across all the districts , said CPI state secretary K

.Narayana. In continuation to the ongoing agitation, he announced, that CPI will lay siege to the office of Mandal Revenue(Block) officer on June 27 and Collect orates on July 11. CPI national executive member and MP Syed Azeez Pasha preside d over the meeting. CPI national executive member Puvvada Nageswara Rao, state s ecretariat members Siddi Venkateswarlu, K.RamaKrishna, Palla Venkat Reddy, Ch.Ve nkatreddy, P.J.Chandra Sekhara Rao, M.Nageswara Rao and others shared the dais. Revolutionary ballad singer and Telangana Peoples Front Chairman Gaddar attended the meeting and gave memorandum to Bardhan to continue the agitation till the b ill for formation of Telangana introduced in the Parliament. Massive Response to CPI Jathas in AP In all, Andhra Pradesh state committee of Communist Party of India had organized and launched seven Jathas covering three different regions raising prime public issues and mobilizing masses on them. The issues included demand to introduce T elangana state formation bill in the next Parliament session, comprehensive deve lopment in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra, curb corruption and price raise, brin g back black money and other issues that evoked positive and tremendous response from the public. In course of the campaign launched from June 1 to June 15, two of the seven Jath as covered Telangana Coastal Andhra regions and three were in Rayalaseema region . Both together covered 387 mandals in all 23 districts. To cover the interior a reas 58 sub-Jathas were also organized to cover 183 more mandals to carry the pa rty message to 578 mandals. In Telangana region, first Jatha started from Jodeghat, native of Tribal Martyr Komaram Bheem, who was killed while fighting against Nizam s regime. This Jatha wa s led by CPI state secretariat member Chada Venkat Reddy and CPI Leglislature Pa rty leader Gunda Mallesh. Second Jatha led by CPI state secretariat members Sidh i Venkateshwarlu and Palla Venkat Reddy and was started from tribal area of Bhad rachalam, a noted historical place in Telangana region. In Coastal Andhra region, one of the Jathas started from Sompet in Srikakulam di strict, was led by MLC Jalli Wilson, NFIW state president A.Vanaja, and the othe r was led by MLC P.J.Chandra Shekhara Rao and Ryothu Sangam state general secret ary R.Venkaiah, NFIW state general secretary Aruna started from Thada in Nellore district. In Rayalaseema region, the Jatha led by P.Harinath Reddy covered Chittoor distri ct, while the other one led by Obulesu covered Kadapa district. The Jatha led by K.Ramanjaneyulu covered Kurnool district. These three Jathas covered Ananthapur district also. All the Jathas were flagged off by CPI state secretary Dr K.Narayana. There was another Jatha travelling on a jeep from Hyderabad which was flagged off by CPI c entral secretariat member, M.P. Azeez Pasha. All these Jathas culminated into public meetings region wise. The public meeting for Rayalaseema region was held at Ananthapur on June 11, attended by CPI natio nal council secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan. Coastal Andhra Public meeting was held at Vijayawada, on June 12 and was attended by CPI national council secretary D. Raja. In Telangana region the meeting was held at Hyderabad, on June 15, address ed by CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, deputy general secretary Suravaram Sud hakar Reddy. CPI state secretary K.Narayana attended all these three meetings. S cores of Public attended the meetings to make them a big success. UPA Government has Failed : Anjaan In the public meeting held at Ananthapur, AIKS President Atul Kumar Anjaan attac ked the UPA government for its failure to resolve the issues hurting the common people. Corruption is more dangerous than cancer and has emerged as one of the p rime issue in the country. He stated that it is the Left which is fighting relen tlessly against corruption. On one hand government is giving away thousands of a cres for pittance while on the other, it is not taking any step to rescue the fa rmers in distress. He criticized the Congress led UPA government which has done nothing yet despite making tall promises to complete the Handri-Neeva project in seven years in the state. CPI state secretary Dr. K. Naryana said CPI is the on ly party that has stood with a singular support for Telengana. Meeting was presi ded over by AP Ryothu Sangham president K. Rama Krishna. Among those present in

the meeting were A.P. Ryothu Sangham secretary P.Ramachandraiah, AITUC state sec retary Obulesu, AIYF state general secretary G. Eswaraiah, district secretaries Ramanjaneyulu (Kurnool), D.Jagadeesh (Ananthapur), Haranath Reddy (Chittor) and KrishnaMurthy (Kadapa). Mass Agitation against Corruption : D.Raja D.Raja called the people to get ready for a huge mass agitation against corrupti on. Addressing a public meeting held at Vijayawada he said that corruption is th e only field where UPA-II Government has achieved progress in its two years regi me. This government has taken up policies to facilitate rich to become multi mil lionaires and poor to become very poor. He appreciated CPI state party for organ izing Jathas against anti-people policies and for the comprehensive development of the state. Dr Narayana accused ruling Congress party and central government f or pushing the state into politically instable situation. Among others taking pa rt in the meeting were CPI state secretariat member E.Nageswara Rao, CPI group l eader in A.P. Legislative Council Jalli Wilson, MLC P.J.Chandra Sekhara Rao, AIK S Vice President K.Nageswara Rao, Ryothu Sangam State President R.Venkaiah and o thers. at Saturday, June 18, 2011 0 comments Links to this post Mess in Education System - Editorial The hue and cry raised over the 100 per cent bench mark set by two Delhi college s for admission in particular subjects reflects the crisis in which the subseque nt governments since the adoption of market economy as guiding principle have pu t the entire education system in the country. About sixty colleges in the nation al capital release cut off lists at the time of admissions refusing seats to mos t of the deserving students. The ploy is used for keeping seats under the manage ment s garb to be filled later by dubious means. Most of these colleges are under private managements but receive crores and crores of rupees as annual grant from the government. The fact is that the very mantra of privatization of higher education is the roo t cause of the mess in which we find our education system today. Private educati onal institutions in practice have become money minting shops and a source of ex ploitation of teachers as well as students. The so-called reputed educational ins titutions are the best commercial institutions. In Delhi the 100 per cent bench m ark has been set for the students who change their stream while seeking admissio n in under graduate courses. The managements of these colleges claim that the 10 0 per cent cut off has been fixed for non-commerce students only. But it is not true. In the first cut off list released this week, out of eleven streams listed , in seven the cut off mark is around 95 per cent. This high cut off for admission raises question about the very grading system of the Central Board of Senior Education (CBSE). Whereas in CBSE grading the toppe r has scored hundred per cent mark, in most of the states where the State educat ion Boards conduct exams, toppers have not been awarded anywhere near 90 per cen t marks. This raises question about varied standards of education in the country . This is also reflected in the rush for admission in CBSE schools even at the p rimary level. The union HRD minister who misses no opportunity to boast that his government has reached the target of universalisation of education by passing t he Right to Education Act need to explain these growing disparities in standards of education. Earlier it was only the Medical and Engineering colleges that use d to collect capitation fee, now it is going to be a phenomenon for the entire e ducation system. In most part of the country, particularly beyond Vindhyachal , there are hundreds of education shops under the garb of Medical and Engineering colleges, mostly run by the ruling politicians. This phenomenon is now going to engulf the entire education system making even education up to graduation level out of the reach of the poor people. This wide gap in standards of education has led to migration of students from fa r off places to centers like Delhi where the so-called reputed educational instit utions are located . Every year in Delhi, students from almost all the states come seeking admission in under graduate courses. Obviously, these students belong t o families that can financially afford the admission and stay in Delhi.

Another grim fact that has come to light during the admission controversy relate s to the manipulation in the cases of reservation for OBC students. In the past two years, none of the Delhi colleges that get government grants and are legally bound to give 27 per cent seats to OBC students failed to do so. In most of the colleges over 50 per cent of the OBC quotas remained unfulfilled and were later converted into general seats. Governments failed to take any action against suc h colleges. Grants of such colleges that do not fulfill the legal requirement of 27 per cent seats for OBC students must immediately be scrapped. This menace of privatization of education has also opened wide doors for exploit ation of teaching community. In most of the private schools and colleges all ove r the country, the teachers are not paid even one fourth of the salaries stipula ted under law. This results in recruitment of unworthy teachers and ultimately l eading to drastic fall in the education standard as a whole. By and large contra ct system is prevalent in education system in recruitment of teachers. The fact of life is that the government by encouraging privatization of educatio n at all levels is actually imposing a system where children from poor families need not go for education after a certain stage. A child of a manual labour shou ld remain a manual labour for ever. This is a new caste system that the bourgeoi s rulers of the country are trying to impose. It is inevitable ingredient of the capitalist system and its new avatar the economic neo-liberalism. The deepening mess in education system need to be fought from this class angle too. Luck beats Talent: Delhi University and its 100% mischief By Siddhartha Mukherjee, June 18, 2011 So Delhi University eclipsed what was supposed to be the greatest event of the cent ury . In their latest tantrum, adamant on being the benchmark of elitism , they have eliminated all mortals lesser than the level of perfection itself, in the field of academics, blatantly disregarding aptitude, which to them is as insignificant as an in-flight souvenir auction. Theirs is a numbers game-of-sorts, and one of tremendous audacity, to claim 100% as the cutoff marks to their University. It s a wee bit ironic, for a cutoff means marks above which admissions are considered. Having eliminated the above itself, the task demands the divine to intervene, and can be translated to a desperate call of help to God, in helping them out with a mortal procedure. Well, a 100% aggregate in class 12th is not so much a matter of talent, but of g enerous fate on part of the students, a function of the examiner s mood swings, ev en his calculative perfection in totalling, efficient functioning of the hordes of middlemen (which by standards India boasts of, is NOT an asset it is made to sound like), and probably a million minute factors we cannot even account for. D U is demonstrating the power of Chaos. So, if the examiner has unresolved issues with his dead old daddy (perhaps just one innocent ice cream denied at a family outing at a time before you were even born), you might consider your admission to DUs as unlikely as the morning sunrise is not. Cut-offs next year: 100% marks and a height of over 6 feet? So, those of you who approximated the value of Pi, and did not consider the 10th decimal place, well, you are not perfect. And you ergo, shall not be a DU-ite. You may score a 140 on the Mensa IQ test but do NOT pride in it. Yes, you are am ong the top 3% of the human civilization after millions of years of evolution, w hich is cool and all, but hey! DU does not want that. DU doesn t want YOU. It s what Douglas Adams called perhaps the Total Perspective Vortex . You will realise how s mall you are. Theirs is an attempt to bring back mankind with wings to the groun d, and not only that, to make you undertake a contortionist act at a mental leve l, where you CANNOT afford to learn, but remember; not understand, but reproduce ; not create, but accept. How the Spartans rejected every newborn they found was flawed, and came up to a meagre 300, owing ONLY to the mathematical impossibility in scoring, DU s army sta

nds at a still mighty 100. So, aspirants, tonight, and every night, if I daresay , you dine in living hell. You die a hundred deaths in the fear, in the anguish of knowing your abilities, yet doubting their perfection. I am not trying to inv oke the fear that shall dawn upon you as you wait biting whatever remains of you r nails, watching your results appear on the fateful screen, fearing that a 100100-100-99 is not the figure they are looking for. That one mark shall haunt you , although immensely insignificant at ground level, for the rest of your life. T hat one mark, will downcast your eyes to the dirt of the road, and never shall y ou look into that apparent horizon of excellence. This although does open avenue s for Chuck Norris. To teach you to roundhouse kick the board exams to a 100% re sult. Congratulations DU, for now getting to select students based on probability. Mig ht as well on the basis of the flip of a coin. Or a dodecahedron, for you are so in love with large numbers. The irony is, there WILL be a long line of students STILL contending to get into DU, with 100% results, apiece. How do you plan to raise the bars next year? 100% marks and a height over 6 feet? You might as well keep a single score, say a random 94.62% as the selection marks, and one would have to get exactly that, to get in. Aiming at something less than 100 precisely s infinitely more difficult, and definitely the next step. Or, perhaps select st udents based upon the number of funny pictures they have in their Flickr account s. At least THAT, they can practically work on. And will involve more wits than any board paper ever can. Math magic to raise cutoff bar Date 30 May 2011 Admission to popular courses like BCom, BCom (H) and economics (H) in the DU col leges is expected to get tougher with 1,449 students bagging merit certificates in mathematics in the CBSE's Class XII exam this year. Last year, only 749 stude nts got the certificate in mathematics by scoring 99% and above. According to CBSE figures, in Delhi alone, 2,265 students scored 98% and above i n mathematics this year. Mathematics is a compulsory subject for BCom (H) in mos t colleges as well as for BCom in many colleges. Moreover, according to various college sources, the cutoffs for economics (H) is also going to increase as math ematics is a compulsory subject for this course as well. "There is no doubt that the BCom (H) and economics (H) cutoffs are going to incr ease this year as well. Going by the results and the high marks being scored thi s year, naturally it will have its impact on the admissions. We have also receiv ed the Maharashtra and Rajasthan boards' results and high scorers are on the ris e in the state boards, too," said the principal of Shri Ram College of Commerce, P C Jain. The college has 252 seats for general candidates in BCom (H) and 62 in economics (H). With no pre-admission applications this year, the colleges not opting for online registration are banking on the result data and past experiences to prepare the ir cutoffs. In Delhi, 66 students scored 98% and above in economics in this year 's CBSE exam and 167 students scored 98% and above in accountancy.