World Development Report 2004: through the lenses of Marketing of Education Service in India 

Dr. Amalesh Bhowal,Professor, Department of Commerce, Assam University.

E-mail: amalesh_b1@rediffmail.com

 1.1     Introduction:

Article 10, contained in the Declaration On The Responsibilities Of The Present Generation Towards Future Generations, mentions that  “The present generations should ensure the conditions of equitable, sustainable and universal socio-economic development of future generations… Education is an important instrument…”

There is a new looking at the world of education using the lenses of marketing. Evidence is the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). It aimed at deregulating international markets in services, including education. Corollary: Education is a commodity too which can be traded; in other words, there exists ‘Educational Service Market. To operate in that market, we need Principles and Theories for Marketing of Education Service.] “The idea behind these principles is the creation of a open, global market place where services, like education, can be traded… GATS covers the educational services of all countries whose educational systems are not exclusively provided by the public sector, or those educational systems that have commercial purposes.”

In the mean time, the World Bank has published “World Development Report 2004 – Making Services Work for Poor People”. It provides a practical framework for making the services that contribute to ‘human development work’ for poor people. The report included services that have the most direct link with human development – education, health, water, sanitation, and electricity.

Continue reading...

 

Indiaâ??s biggest fashion trade event, Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WLIFW) Spring/Summer 2009, will be held at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from 15th October to 19th October, 2008. In its 12th year, WLIFW along with the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) aims at providing a platform for new talents to showcase their potential. A total of 87 designers will be participating in this mega event.

 

The new season will bring with it new color shades, designs, creations, clothing construction . Once again, the best of Indian Fashion Industry will come together on a common platform. All the designers are geared up with new zeal to put forward their best show, all prepared to enthrall the audience with their Spring/Summer 2009 collection. They are all ready to impress the fashionistas and consumers not only from within the country but from overseas as well.

 

Since over a decade, WLIFW has acted as a medium for the indian fashion designers to display their virtue and earn for themselves a name that people would reckon with. In similar terms, the Spring/Summer 2009 season, too, will give rise to fresh talents. Rathi Vinay Jha, Director General, FDCI said, “The Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week has strongly established itself as India’s largest national level business event. It is a successful platform that brings together the best of designers, buyers from India and overseas, domestic and international media. Each time we look forward to better businessâ?.  Read more... (521 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Continue reading...

Revitalizing secondary education

By Sadaket Malik

With the central government lobbing its ball to the state governments for the implementation of the several schemes  for the revitalization of the system of the secondary education in the country, the schemes of the access, equity, Mahila Samakhya, and quality in the field of secondary education has lost its very essence. Basic issues of quality, equity and access to secondary education in India still unresolved besides the central legislations by the Ministry of Human Resource development Govt of India. The expert committees were formulated by the Govt. to gauge the system and suggest the measures to universalize the whole system. The central governments own figures indicate that many as two-thirds of those eligible for secondary education remain outside the school system today. A Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) committee estimates that 88,562 additional classrooms will be required in 2007-08 and over 1.3 lakh additional teachers. The CABE is the highest advisory body relating to policy making in education in India. Figures put out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s Department of School Education and Literacy indicate that as many as two-thirds of those eligible for secondary and senior secondary education remain outside the school system today. While noting that adequate number of elementary schools is to be found at a reasonable distance from habitations, the ministry admits in its website that this is not the case with regard to secondary schools and colleges. The gross enrolment rate for elementary education in 2003-04 was 85 percent, but for secondary education, the enrolment figure stood at 39 percent.  Read more... (2035 words, estimated 8:08 mins reading time)

Continue reading...

NEED AND CONTEXT

It has been observed that the recent economic growth in the Asian cities indicate that there has been a breakdown of traditional support systems such as the family because of rapid urbanization and modernization. Moreover, a large number of people are living below the poverty line in impoverished environment in urban and rural communities. Their acute needs for housing, food, health, education, and incomes are the very forces that push adolescents to look for a means of livelihood on the streets, engage in prostitution, be hooked up with crime/drug syndicates, or become victims of sexual and physical abuse. It is a battle of bare struggle for daily survival and contributes in every ways they can. Any measure to penalize parents of such children will only result in further abuse and oppression of people who are already disadvantaged. Such children struggle hard in getting the most essential requirements to meet the basic needs of life and such children need special attention and educational intervention. These disadvantaged adolescents are generally malnourished and often anemic; many of them physically stunted, suffer psychologically from undue family pressures and abuses and are neglected at home. They tend to develop low self-esteem from broken families, single-headed households because of the death, separation, or labor migration of one of their parents. Moreover, they live in slums and squatter communities, sub-human conditions and are susceptible to crime syndicates and gang conflicts, substance/drug abuse, and gambling.

 Read more... (4007 words, estimated 16:02 mins reading time)

Continue reading...