Nalanda : the idea coming to fruition! Patna: The Nalanda International University will start academic activities from next year, its chancellor and Nobel Laureate Prof Amartya Sen said today. The prestigious university, to be headquartered at Nalanda, will start academic activities from September-October 2014 in two subjects – historical studies and environmental studies, Sen told reporters after attending the governing body meeting of the university. The construction of buildings for the proposed international university will commence as soon as the finalisation of the architect... 

By Dev N Pathak JNU: a classroom! The irony of our times is not that we do not know; it is that we refuse to reckon with all we know! Following the norm of institutional narcissism, for which the sociologists of education have critiqued elite schools aplenty, the Center for the Study of Social Systems (CSSS) celebrated fortieth year of its existence. And it was done through a three day long conference titled ‘Sociology Matters (predicate is not important). A conference, though, with only panel discussions and symposia! Yes, some sprinkling of art and culture here and there which either seemed... 

  Beating with argument: not hockey sticks! Patna: think of student politics union elections and all you can think of the money power, the violence, the regular scuffles and bloodshed, and even kidnappings. But things may change for the better very soon. Since the PU student elections are being held after 29 years, this may be the right moment to make a new beginning. PU vice-chancellor Shambhu Nath Singh said: “The debate of the presidential candidates would allow the students to know them and their agenda.” Students and teachers of the university are happy about the planned event. A... 

  ‘Introvert’: by Champak Borbora Guwahati: For the first time in the North East of India, an art gallery opened its doors to patrons and connoisseurs of art, a gallery that will be an exhibition as well as a sale center, open 5 days a week all through the year. Palette, The Art Gallery was inaugurated on October 7, 2011, an event where various dignitaries, art lovers, and artists were present. The seeds of Palette were sown way back in 2010 by Mr. Rajkamal Bhuyan. His vision was to have a platform that could showcase and promote the artists of North East. Palette has an extensive... 

Teacher anger: how to pacify? Patna: years ago, large scale recruitment of school teachers in Bihar was seen as a magic pill by the Bihar government – it aimed to solve two problems at one go – make up for shortfall of teachers and also provide employment for lakhs of youth. It turns out it has created some really knotty problems. Contract teachers were initially happy to find jobs but soon discovered the discomfort of collecting measly salaries of Rs 6-8, 000 per month, paid in bundles after every six months. The regular teachers with salaries in the same school on the other hand often got... 

  Coaching: brain disorder! by Ratnakar Tripathy Patna: Anecdotally speaking, a corrupt Bihari official at every rung in Bihar will use a 3-tier excuse for taking bribes and embezzling money. First and foremost, dowry for a daughter, second fees for a son studying engineering/medicine/management, third, to build himself a house. A Bihari middle class person’s crisp definition of her or his social responsibility is mostly put with mathematician’s finality – ‘I have settled my children’, whatever that means, including perhaps ‘thanks to me, human future is taken care of’. The rest... 

  Women: Freedom to study Sheikhpura, Bihar: even as figures indicate that Bihar tops the list of child marriages, there are many families and women who would differ and follow the opposite path. While the khaps in Haryana are busy spreading an ‘ideology’ of child marriage, in Bihar it is practical difficulties that matter. Safety of women and the likelihood of inter-caste elopements are now turning out to be the basic reason why girls get married early. So it is really a mix of traditional reasons and contemporary reality that seems to persuade parents to marry off their girls at an early... 

  Malala survives: they shot her! Peshawar, Pakistan: Many schools in Pakistan’s Swat Valley closed their doors in protest on Wednesday and Pakistan’s army chief vowed to fight on against militants as a wave of anger swept across the nation over the Taliban attack on a 14-year-old activist widely known for promoting girls’ education. The shooting of Malala on her way home from school Tuesday in the town of Mingora in the volatile Swat Valley horrified Pakistanis across the religious, political and ethnic spectrum. A Taliban gunman walked up to a bus taking schoolchildren and... 

  Anand Sir: role model or PR engine? Patna: After achieving great success with Barfi!, Bollywood director Anurag Basu now wants to make a film on Bihar’s educational coaching institute Super 30 and its founder Anand Kumar. According to insider reports, in all likelihood Ranbir Kapoor, who has essayed a deaf and mute boy in Barfi!, would be playing the lead role in the film. So you may have Ranbir playing Anand Sir, as the coaching institute instructors are addressed in Bihar. Super 30 is an Indian educational program that started in Patna under the banner of Ramanujan School of Mathematics.... 

  By Subir Shukla Teachers: the good vs the bad! At some point or the other in their lives, almost everyone has held the view: ‘If only teachers did their work better, so many problems would be solved…’  Schools would be so much better off, isn’t it? Education would be great and our lives very different as a result; in fact, society itself would change, if only teachers did their work better. People who think thus are, of course, only being ‘nice’. Because there are any number of others who have less ‘nice’ ways of putting it. ‘Bloody...