Insights from Social Context
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Indian Student Migration for Medical Education to Central and East Asia
Understanding Demand, Supply and Roles of Market and State
By Santhakumar V | May 9, 2024
There is no point in taking a negative view of this exodus from India for medical education. The cost of medical education is prohibitively high in India. Entry barriers are unreasonable.
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Land Degradation in India: A National Systems Perspective on Achievements and Challenges
By Santhakumar V | Apr 11, 2024
Though there was a high rate of deforestation in India in the past, the degradation of remaining natural forest cover has declined. According to official data, there is an increase in areas covered by forests in the country.
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संघर्ष क्षेत्र में अनुसूचित जनजातियों की शिक्षा
द्वारा: शांताकुमार वी एवं अनंत गंगोला | Mar 9, 2022
सामान्य तौर पर सुकमा और बस्तर क्षेत्र में आदिवासी समुदायों और मुख्यधारा के समाज की भाषा के बीच एक उल्लेखनीय अंतर है। यह आश्चर्य की बात नहीं है क्योंकि मुख्य जनजाति — कोंड — और उनकी भाषा द्रविड़ परिवार का हिस्सा है जो हिंदी से बहुत अलग है। हालांकि, वहां की जनजातीय आबादी को भाषा-उपयुक्त और संदर्भ‑विशिष्ट शिक्षा प्रदान करने के पर्याप्त प्रयास नहीं किए गए हैं।
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Enrolment in Higher Education: Need for Reflection (PART II)
By Santhakumar V | Jan 9, 2024
The real problem is the lack of an approach to connect academic subjects with the real-life or occupational contexts of students. The subjects that students study in their UG programme should contribute to their lives and occupations even if they do not pursue higher levels of education.
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Enrolment in Higher Education: Need for Reflection (Part I)
By Santhakumar V | Dec 28, 2023
A mere increase in the enrolment in higher education may not be the ideal way forward. There is a need for a deeper analysis of factors which encourage youngsters to go to a college/university.
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Education and Development: A Comparison Between South and Central Asia
By Santhakumar V and Mir Afzal Tajik | May 26, 2023
The slow spread of school education for all has affected the economic development in South Asian countries. If we compare the situation in India with that of China, it is clear that the latter could ensure the provision of basic education to the majority of children, which helped the growth of manufacturing industries.
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Peatland Restoration in Indonesia Needs a Global Collaborative and Pragmatic Approach
By Santhakumar V | Mar 10, 2023
The restoration of peatlands in Indonesia and elsewhere is important not just for these countries but also globally. The burning of peatlands can add significant amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and can also lead to other problems, such as haze that affects airline traffic.
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Socio-economic Conditions that Enable Restoration of Land and Ecosystems
What we know – What we need to know
By Santhakumar V | Dec 29, 2022
Discussions on land restoration have so far not focussed adequately on the connection between human development and the restoration of land and ecosystems. There are cases where broad-based development led to an increase in the vegetative cover over those lands which were used for intensive (or degrading) agriculture in the past.
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Educational Challenges of Roma People in Europe and Dalits in India: A Comparative Analysis (PART II)
By Santhakumar V and Edina Kovács | Nov 3, 2022
The cases of Roma people and the Dalits show that specific social groups can remain less educated and underdeveloped for generations. An equilibrium of social discrimination combined with economic deprivation can sustain for a long time as evident not only from the study of these two sections of people but also from that of the Black community in the United States.
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Educational Challenges of Roma People in Europe and Dalits in India: A Comparative Analysis (PART I)
By Santhakumar V and Edina Kovács | Oct 21, 2022
Historically, there were periods of suppression and exclusion of the Roma people. Even when their children were admitted to schools, they were not fully accepted. Their historical underachievements in education continue to impact the performance of children from these communities, even though government policies have become more enabling for their children.
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Challenges in Schooling for Rural Poor: India versus Kenya (Part II)
By Benard Nyatuka, Santhakumar V | Sep 7, 2022
Despite a relatively better economic status as a whole and higher public investments, India seems to be facing challenges in terms of retention and learning in schools somewhat similar to those that Kenya faces. But the reasons for the underperformance in school education seem to be different in the two countries.
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Challenges in Schooling for Rural Poor: India versus Kenya (Part I)
By Benard Nyatuka, Shanthakumar V | Aug 25, 2022
There are important differences in the schooling patterns in India and Kenya. For example, those social groups that do not do well in education are different in the two countries. But this note focuses on the differences in the responses of governments in both countries in addressing the challenges related to the demand for and supply of education, among the rural poor.
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Training for Local Development: University of Central Asia (Part II)
By Bohdan Krawchenko | July 25, 2022
School of Professional and Continuing Education (SPCE)-Afghanistan is unique because it is embedded in state educational establishments and, in effect, is a private-public partnership. Three of its Learning Centres are at Teachers’ Training Colleges located in remote mountain towns of the Badakhshan province.
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Training for Local Development: University of Central Asia (Part I)
By Bohdan Krawchenko | July 12, 2022
The University of Central Asia defines itself as a ‘development’ university. Its locations reflect this commitment — the campuses are in secondary towns among poor mountain communities where it becomes a significant driver of economic growth.
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Dependence of Urban Poor on Private Schools in Nairobi: An Institutional Analysis (Part I)
By Charity Limboro and Santhakumar V | May 31, 2022
This article looks at low-fee paying private schools in urban Nairobi and is based on short-period fieldwork in a set of such schools and interactions with school directors and teachers as well as other stakeholders, including the association of these alternate schools.
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Challenges to Kerala’s Democracy: A Conversation with TM Thomas Isaac (Part II)
Santhakumar V speaks with TM Thomas Isaac | May 5, 2022
‘…whether it is Turkey or India or the Philippines, there is a preference, among the middle class or the aspirational middle class, for a strong leader, a strong government which survives and facilitates economic growth, even if there is a certain trade-off in terms of democracy, human rights, etc.’
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Challenges to Kerala’s Democracy: A Conversation with TM Thomas Isaac (Part I)
Santhakumar V speaks with TM Thomas Isaac |
‘In a democracy, there will be and there should be alternatives before the people. But I don’t agree with the fact that competitive politics demands that the ruling party keeps on changing every five years. It has proven to be detrimental to people’s interests.’
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part VI)
By Santhakumar V | Nov 17, 2021
Though it is obvious, the possible positive contribution of education towards economic and human development can be seen from the experience of different countries in the South Asian region.
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part V)
By Santhakumar V | Oct 29, 2021
Bhutan is one case where a desirable equilibrium or mutually beneficial interlinkages between education and development could be achieved. This is even though modern education started in a major way only about 50 years ago.
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part IV)
By Santhakumar V | Oct 13, 2021
The traditional community norms in these regions were also strengthened by the versions of Islam which gained dominance there and, over time, strengthened the norms against modern education for girls. Instead of a religious issue, it is more of a cultural issue. It may be more correct to say that the traditional values in these localities may have found certain rigid versions of Islam acceptable over time.
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part III)
By Santhakumar V | Sept 28, 2021
Bangladesh is an example where the education-development linkage provided a positive feedback loop which strengthened both spaces even though the country is at a relatively lower level in terms of both education and development. This may have implications on poverty, reduction, economic and human development.
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part II)
By Santhakumar V | Sept 16, 2021
Nepal is the only country where internal factors and forces of globalisation have not helped in substantially increasing the demand for and use of education on the one hand and the better and more opportunities for educated people on the other.
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Education and Development Linkages in South Asia (Part I)
By Santhakumar V | Sept 1, 2021
Barring Sri Lanka and Bhutan, other countries in South Asia have not been very successful in extending school education to all through proactive governmental efforts which are needed to overcome the constraining family circumstances of children that prevent them from using school.
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Mo Upakari Bagicha: Improving the Nutritional Status of Women and Children
By Rajib Kumar Roul and Shrikant Mohanta | Aug 17, 2021
Despite various challenges in the first year of implementation, the project has achieved huge success in terms of promoting dietary diversity among the beneficiaries. Till March 2021, around 3.13 lakh households have grown nutri-gardens in their households.
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Technology in Education and Social Equilibrium in Developing Societies
Using technology, teachers may be able to learn innovative practices to teach specific concepts or subjects. The innovation of a few teachers can be disseminated quickly, and others can adopt these easily with the help of technology. Students can access and acquire additional learning materials.
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Dependence of Urban Poor on Private Schools in Nairobi: An Institutional Analysis (Part II)
By Charity Limboro and Santhakumar V | Jun 16, 2022
A few researchers and a set of parents argue that low-fee private schools provide ‘quality’ education. Though such schools fail in terms of almost all indicators of quality (basic infrastructure, qualified teachers, availability of learning materials), personal attention may enable some of their students to score better on standardized tests.
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Nagada Village: Four Years After Media Exploration
By Amarendra Das | May 4, 2021
The road to economic development requires basic infrastructure, like all-weather roads and physical access to health, education and markets. Therefore, the government should, on priority, connect all small hamlets with all-weather roads and provide easy access to education and health.
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Budgeting of Sustainable Development Goals in Odisha
By Balakrushna Padhi and Udaya S Mishra | Apr 22, 2024
Odisha is a frontrunner among major Indian states in introducing far-reaching reforms in budgeting and governance over the past decades. The State’s budget for 2021 captures people’s aspiration for a ‘New Odisha’ by transforming ‘reactive governance’ to ‘proactive governance’.
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Does Education Enable Active Citizenship and Vibrant Democracy? (Part II)
By Santhakumar V | Mar 30, 2021
Education has the potential to enhance equality of opportunity (for higher education) and employment. However, the evidence is mixed. Even in a developed country like the USA, social mobility facilitated through education is mediated through the socio-economic background of the family. This could be more so in India.
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Does Education Enable Active Citizenship and Vibrant Democracy? (Part I)
By Santhakumar V | Mar 26, 2021
There could be different theoretical reasons for the positive impact of education on good governance. One could be the potential role of the middle class in strengthening democracy and governance, and the role that education plays in the creation of such a class.