Issues of Concern – July 2015
Editorial
Education is a vehicle to transmit the collective knowledge of humanity from one generation to the next, with the aim of enabling humanity to think on its own terms and assess the validity of what is known and explore what is unknown. Due to its ability to instill a critical consciousness in people, knowledge has an important role in understanding and challenging the existing unequal power structures in society. But, this knowledge can fully reform a society only when the said knowledge is accessible easily by the masses, irrespective of their status in the contemporary society.
Influence of Capitalism on Education
Concern interviewed Prof. Rajan Gurukkal, Sundararajan Visiting Professor at the Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc about the effect of capitalism on the state of education and the framing of its policy. Prof. Gurukkal is a leading Indian social scientist, historian, professor and writer. He has written six books in Malayalam and five in English, on the topics of Socio-economic and cultural history of Kerala, structural anthropology, historical sociology, and human ecology of the Southern Western Ghats.
Indian Higher Education for 'Trade Regulation'
The Government of India (GOI) is all set to allow educational traders from 160 member - nations of World Trade Organization (WTO) to establish universities and professional institutions in India as commercial ventures. Call for Action Once India’s education sector comes under the regime of WTO, people’s right to education - for which the GOI must be democratically accountable - will be completely dismantled. GOI would then be bound to protect the interests of foreign and domestic corporate houses that pursue profits in education, against the interests of the students and teachers of the country.