Your cover story (EW May) on UGC (University Grants Commission) was an eye-opener. I wonder why despite the UGC Act so clearly mandating quality control of institutions of higher education as a prime UGC duty, it has taken the commission half a century to pay attention to this vital objective of its charter. In the meanwhile it is quite obvious that in the overwhelming majority of India’s colleges and universities the quality of education dished out is the pits. In fact in the job market, their degrees are worth zilch.

In this connection, I noted with interest that of India’s 15,600 colleges only 6,000 are recognised by UGC, which means that even UGC acknowledges that more than 60 percent of the country’s colleges are sub-standard. Nevertheless all of them have students who graduate and enter the job market. In the circumstance, is it surprising that so many million graduates are unemployed? It’s self-evident that India’s higher education system in which the state governments, universities and UGC/NAAC are involved is a big mess. And the major share of the blame should be laid at the door of UGC. This was inadequately stressed in your cover story which was too soft on the commission.

Rakesh Srivastava
Delhi

Explaining low productivity

I read your special report feature on Wipro’s school reforms initiative (EW May) with great interest. Kudos to the progressive philosophy of Wipro chairman Azim Premji for establishing the Azim Premji Foundation and the Wipro Applying Thought in Schools initiative to improve the quality of school education through teacher training.

One of the glaring failures of the central planning model in post-independence India has been the continuous neglect of school education. As your assistant editor Summiya Yasmeen rightly points out, most industry leaders have not been able to make the connection between poor quality school education and the low productivity of Indian industry. If people’s basic education is substandard, it is inevitable that they won’t be able to derive much benefit from higher education and their work productivity will be low.

The same goes for the low productivity and poor efficiency of government departments. Most government clerks are from second-rate govern-ment schools and colleges. Given their sub-standard education, they are unable to do justice to their jobs. Unfortunately Indian industry in general has little interest in education despite the fact that it is the greatest sufferer of the sub-standard education system. It is ironic that after so many years as the champion of Indian industry (as editor of Business India and Businessworld) you are now discovering the “ugly face of capitalism”. Best of luck!

S. Vaidyanathan 
Bangalore

Comprehensive coverage

The cover story on the University Grants Commission (EW May) was by far the most comprehensive I’ve read, replete with detail on this apex body and its activities. Moreover the article came at the right time when most people are under the impression that the job of the UGC is to disburse grants to universities and forget about them.

As the author rightly observes, if our universities do not shape up soon they will have to shut shop. Already several private universities including the Manipal Academy of Higher Education have started offering popular twinning programmes wherein students get degrees from foreign universities.

Gopal Rao Y.K.
Mysore

Obesity epidemic

As a parent of two teenage children I was happy to read in your academic grapevine (EW May) that at least in Delhi, some schools are spearheading a health foods revolution. Shutting down tuck shops and canteens selling junk food and colas on school campuses is the right thing to do. Because children spend most of their time in school, there’s little as parents we can do, to check what they eat and don’t. As a mother I can monitor what I pack for lunch, but I can’t control what they buy from the school canteen — everyday. Schools should make sure that the food sold in their canteens is healthy and nutritious. I believe parents and school managements have to partner to control the obesity epidemic among children.

Apart from focusing on healthy foods, schools should also make an effort to increase the time they allot to physical activity in the school timetable. Today children spend most of their time watching television, playing computer games or studying — a regimen bound to make them obese.

Sharada Joshi
Mumbai

Editorial integrity fears

Congratulations your editorial’s election forecast has come true and proves once again that a journalist is usually perceptive of the nation’s pulse (EW May).

However I was rather disappointed with the lead features in the latest issue of your magazine. The cover story is on UGC and the special report is about some work done by Wipro in the education sector. Both these features make EW read more like an advertisement magazine rather than a newsmagazine. I am sorry to say this but I get the feeling that you have been bought off by Wipro. In exchange for a full-page advertisement in every issue, you have glorified an ordinary seminar (rightly called ‘gabfest’ by the author) to the status of a special report! Where are you heading?

If I remember right, there was a report on a seminar on globalisation conducted at Bangalore and it was given the right amount of coverage, about a page or less. Since Wipro’s seminar was more related to education it could have been given greater coverage but definitely not glorified to the status of a special report. I was under the impression that all your main articles are investigative, but I think I should change my opinion.

I hope the feature was not the result of your advertisers dictating terms to you. I also advise you to desist from writing such features in future as it makes your magazine appear more like a publicity, and not a journalistic medium.

Rahul Vashist on e-mail

Special report status was given to Wipro’s initiatives in the neglected school education sector because we believe that such socially beneficial programmes need to be widely replicated. We have several annual advertisers, so you can rest assured our editorial integrity won’t be compromised — Editor