The Seemandhra, a successor State of Andhra Pradesh, would have to start from the scratch like a Phoenix bird

that regenerates from ashes in Greek mythology. 1. Education in Colonial India a. The colonial masters introduced education systems in India to create clerks and civil servants, and we have not deviated much from that pattern till today. Education System in Modern India a. Many years ago, youngsters prepared en masse for civil services and bank officers exams, few years ago, they prepared to become engineers and now they are again looking to become civil servants and bank officers. b. If there are a few centres of educational excellence, for each of those there are thousands of mediocre and terrible schools, colleges and now even universities that do not meet even minimum standards. c. There are more than 35000 colleges and 700 universities in India. d. Creating a few more schools or allowing hundreds of colleges and private universities to mushroom is not going to solve the crisis of education in India. e. India spends nearly 2.1% of the GDP over education and research whereas US spends 33%, China 12.5%, Japan 16%. What is the position of United Andhra Pradesh in India? Where to the students hail from? a. United Andhra Pradesh ranks number one in terms of total colleges in any state in India. b. Around 4700 colleges are present in united Andhra Pradesh which accounts to 15% of the total colleges present in India. c. Most of the students who enter into IITs, IIMs, AIIMS, etc are from Andhra Pradesh and especially from Seemandhra region. d. Andhra Pradesh students have proven their intelligence in Civil Services also. Bifurcation after effects a. The bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh (aka Seemandhra) wont immediately impact the education sector because Hyderabad will remain the common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for the next ten years. b. The open secret is that education in Hyderabad has been developed into a near-metro by the entrepreneurial skills of outsiders from the Rayalseema and coastal Andhra districts such as Dr. B.S. Rao (Chaitanya Group), Dr. A. Narayana (Narayana Group) and L. Radiah (Vignan Group) c. The new government of Seemandhra/Andhra Pradesh which will get a special financial package to develop the new state will also promote government colleges and universities within ten years when Hyderabad is the joint capital. d. These will cater to poor and lower middle class households. Therefore in sum, bifurcation is likely to give a big boost to education in which undivided Andhra Pradesh is a national leader, in both states. e. Division always comes with a certain amount of pain but the people of Seemandhra are proactive and entrepreneurial. f. In undivided Andhra, there was excessive focus on Hyderabad. Now good quality higher educational institutions will mushroom in the new Andhra Pradesh which in turn will give a boost to economic development. g. Education institutions apart, residuary Andhra Pradesh is handicapped by the lack of hospitals, infrastructure, industry which are all concentrated in Hyderabad, a city developed by people from all regions of undivided Andhra Pradesh. h. The promised special package from the Central government combined with the proven enterprise of the people of the Seemandhra region is certain to start a construction boom in the new state. i. Bifurcation is likely to prove a blessing in disguise.

2.

3.

4.

5.

What is a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. i.

the solution? Education is in the concurrent list so the duty of both centre and state Governments Redefine our educational system with Innovative & Creative Learning Focus over Primary Education Need to regulate fees in schools Effective implementation of RTE Identify priority Industries such as Petroleum Industry Emphasis over skill rather than stuff & knowledge Reward Creativity, original thinking, research and innovation. Education should create Entrepreneurs and employment opportunities

6.

Kadapa a. Rivers i. b.

Penna, Chitravathi, Kunderu, Papagni

Minerals i. 3 million tonnes of Lead, 74 million tonnes of Barytes, 27000 tonnes of Asbestos, Clay deposits, Limestone, Iron ore. ii. Opening of the Brahmani Steel Plant. iii. Need to establish NMDC like corporation in Kadapa to develop the Mining activities in the region. iv. Need to establish research institute in Kadapa. Soil & Crop Pattern i. Korra, Orange, Lime, Bettel Leaves. ii. Need to develop innovative agricultural patterns such as Organic Farming etc., iii. Need to Develop Agricultural Polytechnic College of Utukur on similar lines to Acharya NG Ranga University for the Rayalaseema Zone. Solar Power i. Very hot climate Immense potential for solar power by establishing research institutes under National Solar Mission. Thermal Power i. Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant. Nuclear Reserves i. Large Deposits of Uranium in Tummallapalle. Known to be the one of top 20 world reserves. ii. Need to establish a research institute such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Aeronautical Institute i. Seemandhra Region has Six airports so there is need for large number of pilots and engineers including the staff. So establishment of Aeronautical institute will be apt in Seemandhra Region and preferably in Kadapa as the Aerodrome is present from Colonial period and due to its backwardness. Unique Culture & History i. Tallapaka, Gandi, Brahmam Gari Mattam, Vontimitta Ramula Devalayam, Pushpagiri Chennakeshava Alayam, Nandalur Somanath Swami Temple ii. Need to establish Nalanda like Universities to spread the culture and history.

c.

d.

e.

f.

g.

h.

i. j. k.

Judicial University such as NALSAR Development of existing Rajiv Sports School into National Sports Academy. Conversion of RIMS into AIIMS and to cater the needs of all sections of people.

TELANGANA, INDIAS 29TH STATE (with ten districts including Hyderabad and a population of 34 million), finally became a reality with the Central government passing the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2014 through the Rajya Sabha on February 20 following unruly protests, pepper spray attacks, repeated disruptions, arguments and adjournments in Parliament. With the Bill set to receive presidential ascent any day, the political impasse that threw the state of Andhra Pradesh (pop. 84 million) into continuous turmoil over the past three and a half years, has come to an end. But with undivided Andhra boasting the largest number of engineering colleges among all states and where educational achievements are highly prized, theres considerable anxiety about the impact of division of the state on higher education institutions based in Hyderabad, which after a decade will devolve upon Telangana. Most educationists are of the opinion that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh into Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh (aka Seemandhra) wont immediately impact the education sector because Hyderabad will remain the common capital of Telangana and Seemandhra for the next ten years. Currently the former Andhra Pradesh hosts 42 universities 34 state-owned, three Central and five deemed (private). All the three Central universities University of Hyderabad, Maulana Kalam Urdu University and English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) as also an IIT (Indian institute of Technology), IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology) and NALSAR (National Academy of Legal Studies and Research) are sited in Hyderabad. Of 34 state varsities, 20 are in residuary Andhra Pradesh which comprises the Andhra and Rayalaseema regions (13 districts with a population of 50 million). Moreover, while Telangana has 344 engineering colleges, Seemandhra has 366. But although as is the case with almost all 28 states of the Indian Union, wholly disproportionate resources and effort have been invested in the development of the state capital, i.e Hyderabad (pop. 8 million), which by Indian standards is a well-developed city with a thriving IT industry and top-ranked education institutions, the open secret is that Hyderabad has been developed into a near-metro by the entrepreneurial skills of outsiders from the Rayalseema and coastal Andhra districts. Therefore the loss of Hyderabad is likely to precipitate a flight of capital from Telangana and Hyderabad to Ongole in Andhra or Kurnool, one of which will be the new capital of residuary Andhra Pradesh. Private education providers dominate higher education in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Therefore middle class students from both states who can pay for professional education are unlikely to be adversely affected by bifurcation. Moreover private education entrepreneurs originally from Seemandhra such as Dr. B.S. Rao (Chaitanya Group), Dr. A. Narayana (Narayana Group) and L. Radiah (Vignan Group) who have a strong presence in Telangana and Hyderabad, are likely to discern an opportunity to start schools and colleges in Seemandhra in a big way. The new government of Seemandhra/Andhra Pradesh which will get a special financial package to develop the new state will also promote government colleges and universities within ten years when Hyderabad is the joint capital. These will cater to poor and lower middle class households. Therefore in sum, bifurcation is likely to give a big boost to education in which undivided Andhra Pradesh is a national leader, in both states, says Prof. C. Subba Rao, former chairman of the State Council of Higher Education. This viewpoint which is essentially an argument for smaller, administratively manageable states, more likely to pay attention to social development issues public education and health is endorsed by Prof. M.C. Das, a prominent Vijayawada-based educationist. Division always comes with a certain amount of pain but the people of Seemandhra are proactive and entrepreneurial. In undivided Andhra, there was excessive focus on Hyderabad. Now good quality higher educational institutions will mushroom in the new Andhra Pradesh which in turn will give a boost to economic development. Education institutions apart, residuary Andhra Pradesh is handicapped by the lack of hospitals,

infrastructure, industry which are all concentrated in Hyderabad, a city developed by people from all regions of undivided Andhra Pradesh. The promised special package from the Central government combined with the proven enterprise of the people of the Seemandhra region is certain to start a construction boom in the new state. Bifurcation is likely to prove a blessing in disguise, says Das.

The Seemandhra, a successor State of Andhra Pradesh, would have to start from the scratch like a Phoenix bird that regenerates from ashes in Greek mythology. Vijayawada could become solar city if hot climatic conditions were utilised properly. The government should encourage agro-based, aqua, poultry industries in view of the geographical advantages, they said. Vijayawada railway station, which is well connected with all parts of the country, should be accorded special status. The Gannavaram airport needed to be developed into an international airport apart from completing Bandar port as link facility to the industrial sector, they said. Setting up of research and training institutes like MCR HRD Institute and CCBM that were available in Hyderabad, were also necessary as back-end support to growth in the region. As the division of State was likely to lead to an increase in number of slums, it would pose health problems.

The Seemandhra region which is to be carved out after the split of Andhra Pradesh will have a few topnotch educational institutions on offer such as Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, AIIMS and Indian Institute of Information Technology. Furthermore, more proposed universities likely to be established in Seemandhra such as a Central university, a petroleum university, an agricultural university and a tribal university. The Andhra Pradesh Government is having plans on developing the Kakinada-Visakhapatnam as a petrochemical hub and corridor. Upon the completion of this proposal, the petroleum university in that region will let state meet the required work force, needed for this industry. A Medical College cum Hospital equipped with top-notch facilities and equipments at par of All India Institute of Medical Science may also be seen in the region since majority of super-speciality hospitals currently situated in Hyderabad will fall under the Telangana state after bifurcation. Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill 2014, got approval from the President last week, and the bill consists of many provisions in favor of Seemandhra concerns and seeks to address them. Through the bill issues such as Hyderabad as a common capital for 10 years, special responsibility of Governor and retention of existing admission quotas in the educational institutions for a period of 10 years will be covered. As per the reports released recently, the state is to have common Lok Sabha and assembly polls, i.e, as an undivided unit. The candidates who get elected are to become legislators of their respective states after Telangana is officially formed and announced on 02 June 2014. The Seemandhra region that will be carved out after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh will house some of the top most educational institutions like Indian Institute of Management, Indian Institute of Technology, AlIMS and Indian Institute of Information Technology.

Setting up of four other universities - a Central university, a petroleum university, an agricultural university and a tribal university- is also proposed. With the Andhra Pradesh Government seeking to develop the Kakinada-Visakhapatnam as a petrochemical hub and corridor, the setting of a petroleum university will help meet the man power requirement of the region. A super specialty hospital-cum-teaching facility like All India Institute of Medical Science will also come up in the region since most of the super-speciality hospitals located in Hyderabad are going under the Telangana state. AP Reorganisation Bill 2014, which received a nod from the President last week, has many provisions that seek to address the Seemandhra concerns. The bill cover issues such as Hyderabad as a common capital for 10 years, special responsibility of Governor and retention of existing admission quotas in the educational institutions for a period of 10 years. According to the recent reports, the state however will have Lok Sabha and assembly polls as an undivided unit and the candidates elected will automatically become legislators of their respective states after Telangana comes into being on June 2.

What do we need to change about the Indian Education System? Education has been a problem in our country and lack of it has been blamed for all sorts of evil for hundreds of years. Even Rabindranath Tagore wrote lengthy articles about how Indian education system needs to change. Funny thing is that from the colonial times, few things have changed. We have established IITs, IIMs, law schools and other institutions of excellence; students now routinely score 90% marks so that even students with 90+ percentage find it difficult to get into the colleges of their choice; but we do more of the same old stuff. Rote learning still plagues our system, students study only to score marks in exams, and sometimes to crack exams like IIT JEE, AIIMS or CLAT. The colonial masters introduced education systems in India to create clerks and civil servants, and we have not deviated much from that pattern till today. If once the youngsters prepared en masse for civil services and bank officers exams, they now prepare to become engineers. If there are a few centres of educational excellence, for each of those there are thousands of mediocre and terrible schools, colleges and now even universities that do not meet even minimum standards. If things have changed a little bit somewhere, elsewhere things have sunk into further inertia, corruption and lack of ambition. Creating a few more schools or allowing hundreds of colleges and private universities to mushroom is not going to solve the crisis of education in India. And a crisis it is we are in a country where people are spending their parents life savings and borrowed money on education and even then not getting standard education, and struggling to find employment of their choice. In this country, millions of students are victim of an unrealistic, pointless, mindless rat race. The mind numbing competition and rote

learning do not only crush the creativity and originality of millions of Indian students every year, it also drives brilliant students to commit suicide. We also live in a country where the people see education as the means of climbing the social and economic ladder. If the education system is failing then it is certainly not due to lack of demand for good education, or because a market for education does not exist. Education system in India is failing because of more intrinsic reasons. There are systemic faults that do not let our demand for good education translate into a great marketplace with excellent education services. I discussed the reasons previously in this article: Will Education make a comeback in India? Lets explore something else in this one: what should change in India education system? What needs to be fixed at the earliest? Here is my wish list: Focus on skill based education Our education system is geared towards teaching and testing knowledge at every level as opposed to teaching skills. Give a man a fish and you feed him one day, teach him how to catch fishes and you feed him for a lifetime. I believe that if you teach a man a skill, you enable him for a lifetime. Knowledge is largely forgotten after the semester exam is over. Still, year after year Indian students focus on cramming information. The best crammers are rewarded by the system. This is one of the fundamental flaws of our education system. Reward creativity, original thinking, research and innovation Our education system rarely rewards what deserves highest academic accolades. Deviance is discouraged. Risk taking is mocked. Our testing and marking systems need to be built to recognize original contributions, in form of creativity, problem solving, valuable original research and innovation. If we could do this successfully Indian education system would have changed overnight. Memorising is no learning; the biggest flaw in our education system is perhaps that it incentivizes memorizing above originality. Get smarter people to teach For way too long teaching became the sanctuary of the incompetent. Teaching jobs are until today widely regarded as safe, well-paying, risk-free and low-pressure jobs. Once a teacher told me in high school Well, if you guys dont study it is entirely your loss I will get my salary at the end of the month anyway. He could not put across the lack of incentive for being good at teaching any better. Thousands of terrible teachers all over India are wasting valuable time of young children every day all over India. Education for all It is high time to encourage a breed of superstar teachers. The internet has created this possibility the performance of a teacher now need not be restricted to a small classroom. Now the performance of a teacher can be opened up for the world to see. The better teacher will be more popular, and acquire

more students. Thats the way of the future. Read here about why I think that we are closing on to the age of rockstar teachers. We need leaders, entrepreneurs in teaching positions, not salaried people trying to hold on to their mantle. Implement massive technology infrastructure for education India needs to embrace internet and technology if it has to teach all of its huge population, the majority of which is located in remote villages. Now that we have computers and internet, it makes sense to invest in technological infrastructure that will make access to knowledge easier than ever. Instead of focussing on outdated models of brick and mortar colleges and universities, we need to create educational delivery mechanisms that can actually take the wealth of human knowledge to the masses. The tools for this dissemination will be cheap smartphones, tablets and computers with high speed internet connection. While all these are becoming more possible than ever before, there is lot of innovation yet to take place in this space. Re-define the purpose of the education system Our education system is still a colonial education system geared towards generating babus and penpushers under the newly acquired skin of modernity. We may have the most number of engineering graduates in the world, but that certainly has not translated into much technological innovation here. Rather, we are busy running the call centres of the rest of the world that is where our engineering skills end. The goal of our new education system should be to create entrepreneurs, innovators, artists, scientists, thinkers and writers who can establish the foundation of a knowledge based economy rather than the low-quality service provider nation that we are turning into. Effective deregulation Until today, an institute of higher education in India must be operating on a not-for profit basis. This is discouraging for entrepreneurs and innovators who could have worked in these spaces. On the other hand, many people are using education institutions to hide their black money, and often earning a hefty income from education business through clever structuring and therefore bypassing the rule with respect to not earning profit from recognized educational institutions. As a matter of fact, private equity companies have been investing in some education service provider companies which in turn provide services to not-for-profit educational institutions and earn enviable profits. Sometimes these institutes are so costly that they are outside the rich of most Indian students. There is an urgent need for effective de-regulation of Indian education sector so that there is infusion of sufficient capital and those who provide or create extraordinary educational products or services are adequately rewarded. Take mediocrity out of the system

Our education system today encourages mediocrity in students, in teachers, throughout the system. It is easy to survive as a mediocre student, or a mediocre tea cher in an educational institution. No one shuts down a mediocre college or mediocre school. Hard work is always tough, the path to excellence is fraught with difficulties. Mediocrity is comfortable. Our education system will remain sub-par or mediocre until we make it clear that it is not ok to be mediocre. If we want excellence, mediocrity cannot be tolerated. Mediocrity has to be discarded as an option. Life of those who are mediocre must be made difficult so that excellence Personalize education one size does not fit all Assembly line education prepares assembly line workers. However, the drift of economic world is away from assembly line production. Indian education system is built on the presumption that if something is good for one kid, it is good for all kids. Some kids learn faster, some are comparatively slow. Some people are visual learners, others are auditory learners, and still some others learn faster from exper ience. If one massive monolithic education system has to provide education to everyone, then there is no option but to assume that one size fits all. If however, we can effectively decentralize education, and if the government did not obsessively control what would be the syllabus and what will be the method of instruction, there could be an explosion of new and innovative courses geared towards serving various niches of learners, Take for example, the market for learning dancing. There are very different dance forms that attract students with different tastes. More importantly, different teachers and institutes have developed different ways of teaching dancing. This could never happen if there was a central board of dancing education which enforced strict standards of what will be taught and how such things are to be taught. Central regulation kills choice, and stifles innovation too. As far as education is concerned, availability of choices, de-regulation, profitability, entrepreneurship and emergence of niche courses are all interconnected. Allow private capital in education The government cannot afford to provide higher education to all the people in the country. It is too costly for the government to do so. The central government spends about 4% of budget expenditure on education, compared to 40% on defence. Historically, the government just did not have enough money to spend on even opening new schools and universities, forget overhauling the entire system and investing in technology and innovation related to the education system. Still, until today, at least on paper only non-profit organizations are allowed to run educational institutions apart from government institutions. Naturally, the good money, coming from honest investors who want to earn from honest but high impact businesses do not get into education sector. Rather, there are crooks, money launderers and politicians opening private educational institutions which extract money from the educational institution through creative structuring. The focus is on marketing rather than innovation or providing great educational service one of the major examples of this being IIPM.

Allowing profit making will encourage serious entrepreneurs, innovators and investors to take interest in the education sector. The government does not have enough money to provide higher education of reasonable quality to all of us, and it has no excuse to prevent private capital from coming into the educational sector. Make reservation irrelevant We have reservation in education today because education is not available universally. Education has to be rationed. This is not a long term solution. If we want to emerge as a country build on a knowledge economy, driven by highly educated people we need to make good education so universally available that reservation will lose its meaning.

There is no reservation in online education because it scales. Today top universities worldwide are taking various courses online, and today you can easily attend a live class taught by a top professor of Harvard University online if you want, no matter which country is belong to. This is the future, this is the easy way to beat reservation and make it inconsequential. What are the most important changes you want to see in the India education system? Share your ideas.