William Bickerdike is the new regional manager (south Asia) of the Cambridge International Exami-nations (CIE), the Cambridge (UK)-based transnational examinations board which offers its IGCSE (class X) and A level (class XII) syllabuses and school-leaving exams and certification. Billed as the world’s largest provider of international qualifications for children in the age group 14-19, CIE also provides a primary school curriculum and offers teacher training and certification programmes. Last year nearly 100,000 students in 124 countries wrote the board’s school-leaving exams.

An alumnus of London and St. Andrews universities from where he acquired Masters degrees in English and German, Bickerdike brings considerable experience of international teaching and administration to his Delhi-based job in which he succeeds Mark Bartholomew. Prior to signing up with the British Council in 1989, he taught English in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kuwait and Morocco and headed the council in Pakistan and Cyprus. “There is growing interest in India about CIE qualifications because of revived interest in inter-national education. CIE qualifications are globally accepted as contemporary, and have a good reputation for developing critical thinking, problem solving and research skills. That’s why more than 2,000 schools worldwide including 500-plus in South Asia which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bhutan, are affiliated with us,” says Bickerdike.

Although CIE has a low-profile presence in this country currently, this British examinations board has a long history in India. It introduced its school leaving exams in 1915 and right up to the mid 1960s, its Senior Cambridge (class X/ XI) secondary syllabus and school certificate was the first preference of India’s top public (i.e private, exclusive) schools such as St. Paul’s, Darjeeling, Mayo College, Ajmer, The Doon School, Dehradun, Bishop Cotton, Bangalore and Shimla etc.

However in the flush of nationalism after independence, a large number of India’s top schools switched their allegiance and affiliations to indigenous examination boards such as CBSE and CISCE, with the latter widely regarded as the anointed successor of CIE. But following the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991 when a large number of ‘international’ schools boasting affiliation with offshore examination boards such as the Geneva-based IBO (International Baccalaureate Organi-sation) mushroomed across the country, CIE made a quiet re-entry into Indian school education, and has influenced a growing number of school managements to affiliate with it.

Under Bickerdike’s watch, CIE’s immediate priorities in South Asia are to support affiliated schools to implement the A level syllabus and curriculum, and to popularise the board’s teacher training and development programmes to be delivered by intensively trained master trainers. “On July 3 we will present and detail our certificate programmes for teachers and master trainers via an interactive video conference which will link our headquarters in Cambridge with headmasters and principals of affiliated schools in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. This video conference is our response to the huge interest in our teacher development programmes in the subcontinent,” says Bickerdike, who quite obviously isn’t wasting any time in replanting the CIE flag in India’s top bracket private schools.

Dilip Thakore (Bangalore)

Teachers teacher

An eminent academic, Mumbai-based Roda Billimoria has got her priorities right. This alumna of Mumbai’s St. Xavier’s College, the B.M. Institute, Ahmedabad, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, Uppsala University (Sweden), and Macquarie University, Australia, believes that without focussed attention to teacher training and development, integrated or inclusive education — a cause she passionately believes in — will remain a mere aspiration. Therefore after her long academic journey, she promoted the Sir Shapurji Billimoria Foundation to advance integrated education in India. “I chose to name the foundation after my grandfather as he was not only my inspiration but also a great influence in my life,” she says.

The foundation educates and trains teachers to practise inclusive education. “We teach teachers to respect differences in children’s capacities and talents, as well as their pace of learning. We believe that classroom diversity must be absorbed and incorporated in the planning of schools and professional development of teachers,” says Billimoria.

Accordingly, the trust is continuously involved in conducting short term courses and orientation programmes in integrated education for teachers, while networking with various educational organisations and teachers to create greater awareness of the benefits of inclusive education. To this end in 2003, the foundation established a Teachers Education Centre in Thane, Mumbai which offers a two-year diploma in special education recognised by SNDT University. “We have trained some 15 teachers so far who have received placements in disparate education institutions,” says Billimoria. “We now intend setting up a fully fledged institute of integrated education, complete with a school for children, a centre for teacher education, a unit for research and documentation, and a resource-cum-study centre.”

When and if the proposed institute assumes shape and form, it could well prove a model of logical and sequential growth.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)

Institutional food provider

“The education sector is changing very rapidly in India. We are partners driving this change by offering training facilities and introducing contemporary dietary practices by working with dieticians, nutritionists and Parent-Teacher Associations to plan healthy menus for students,” says Sunil Nayak (30), the youthful chief executive of Radhakrishna Hospitality Services Ltd (RKHS). RKHS is a joint venture with the London-based Compass Group Plc, arguably the world’s largest food service conglomerate with operations in 90 countries, 400,000 employees and an annual sales turnover exceeding $20 billion (Rs.90,000 crore).

Within India the RKHS Group manages a multitude of outsourced services for clients across several industry sectors, offering food supply services, hospitality and vending solutions and integrated facilities management. Among the industries serviced on more than 500 sites are off-shore oil and maritime installations, remote sites, healthcare, education, travel, retail and leisure. Radhakrishna Foodland Pvt. Ltd, an affiliate of RKHS is in the business of customised food service distribution. “It is a front runner in India’s quest for a reliable and world class food distribution supply chain, based on the farm-to-plate concept,” says Nayak.

In the education sector, Mumbai’s Arya Vidya Mandir was the first school to sign up with RKHS, way back in 1996. Today, RKHS has established state-of-the-art, on-site kitchens in 28 schools across the country, including the Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Ecole Mondiale and the American School in Mumbai. It offers services to day and residential schools and colleges, and other institutes. “One of our competencies is to be able to deliver customised solutions as per sector requirements. For e.g the health/ nutrition platform is a critical focus for all sectors but more so in the education sector where we are dealing with children” says Nayak.

Obviously there are takers for RKHS’ quality and service mix. Currently the company operates 500 sites in 19 states across the country, serving more than 200,000 meals per day, managing 15 million sq ft of kitchen and vending space and clocking an annual sales turnover of Rs.250 crore. According to Nayak RKHS is the only catering company in India with its own training centre and has generated 12,000 jobs across country. “We have invested heavily in information technology to constantly deliver superior service,” says Nayak.

That the company is on the right growth track was confirmed by the Greentech Foundation’s prestigious Silver Award for Safety to RKHS in Hyderabad recently. The Greentech Foundation is a non-profit organisation which promotes education, training, research and dissemination of knowledge.

Ronita Torcato (Mumbai)

Animation education pioneer

India’s first digital media college, Image College of Arts, Animation and Technology (ICAT) started in 2004 in Chennai, which hitherto offered a one-year postgraduate diploma programme in digital media, is all set to introduce a unique three-year full-time undergraduate programme in four disciplines — 3D animation, visual effects, game development and game design — starting this August. With this specialised programme, ICAT hopes to fulfil the urgent demand for high quality professionals in India’s fast-track animation, visual FX and gaming industry.

“India’s entertainment and animation industry is growing by leaps and bounds. According to Nasscom (National Association of Software and Services Companies) estimates, the country’s animation and visual FX services revenue which is currently Rs.1,200 crore per year will rise to Rs.4,700 crore by 2010. As trendsetters in this field we are well equipped to offer specialised education in digital media, and have stepped forward to offer our industry-oriented three-year undergrad programme,” says V. Natarajan, chief academic officer of ICAT, a division of Image Infotainment Ltd (estb: 1992), acknowledged pioneers in digital media education and content development.

A computer science engineering graduate of Bangalore University, Natarajan is one of the four founder-promoters of Image Infotainment Ltd, an ISO 9001-2000 certified company which launched IMAGE (Institute of Multimedia Arts and Graphics Effects) in 1996. Currently IMAGE has 30 digital media training centres across India and one in Mauritius.

Natarajan’s passion for computer animation and graphics prompted him to take the plunge into entrepreneurship soon after he graduated in 1994. Since then he has led the company’s multimedia training division, designed its curriculums, authored course material and secured international accreditation for Image by way of tie-ups with leading software companies. In 1999, he led the team that developed the world’s first interactive encyclopedia on Carnatic music in association with Intel, USA; developed the world’s first fully animated interactive storybook based on the Ramayana, and produced the first online games portal for Sify (Satyam Infoway).

Natarajan’s energies are now directed towards designing the curriculum, shaping teaching and assessment methodologies, staffing, and ensuring quality benchmarking of the institute’s three-year undergrad programme. The college will admit its first batch of 120 undergrad students this year. “We had to set our own standards for digital media education. Now our biggest challenge is finding high quality faculty and promoting awareness of the nascent digital media field,” says Natarajan.

Which shouldn’t be too difficult since ICAT has got off to a good start. During campus recruitment this year, all 120 postgrad diploma students of ICAT were snapped up by leading companies including Paaprikas (Bangalore), Prime Focus (Mumbai), EFX and Red Octane Technologies (Chennai) among others, at starting monthly salaries of Rs.8,000-15,000.

Therefore Natarajan has drawn up ambitious plans for ICAT. “We hope to move into our own residential campus next year, launch a full-time Master’s programme in digital media and start a research laboratory within two years. I’m convinced that students enthusiastic about digital media will make it big in the entertainment industry,” says Natarajan.

Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)

Mandal interpreter

The raging debate over the resurrected recommendations of the Mandal Commission for OBC quotas in higher education has transformed septuagenarian S.S. Gill, secretary of the commission in 1979, into a popular analyst for the mainstream media. Since Union HRD minister Arjun Singh made his April 5 proposal advocating an additional 27 percent quota for OBCs in Central government funded higher education institutions, Gill has been inundated with requests from national dailies and periodicals to interpret the import and true intent of the Mandal Commission Report — offers he has in the main accepted. Often described as the ‘maverick’ writer of the Mandal Report that changed India’s political landscape perhaps forever, Gill is a high profile retired bureaucrat, author and columnist.

Currently, Gill is writing his fifth book Understanding Islam scheduled for publication in mid 2007. Among his earlier books are: The Dynasty — A political Biography of the leading Ruling Family of Modern India; The Pathology of Corruption;, Gandhi — A Sublime Failure; and Information Revolution and India.

A graduate of Lahore College, Gill moved to Delhi during Partition and acquired a Masters from Punjab University. In 1952, he joined the civil service and rose to the position of secretary in the I & B (information and broadcasting) ministry from where he retired in 1985. The architect of Doordarshan’s national television network and its legendary programming, Gill is perhaps the only civil servant awarded the Padma Bhushan while in service. “We produced the classics of television which propagated positive social and family values. Since then the blatant commercialisation of television depresses me but perhaps I’m not the best judge with passing years,” says this first CEO of Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation aka DD and AIR (1997-98).

An advocate of the Mandal Commission Report which he believes has been unwarrantedly politicised for the second time, Gill wants to spread awareness that the commission equally recommended scholarships, special tuition and coaching for OBC students, which would have made affirmative action less painful and more gainful.

“Confusion about the commission’s recommendations is being spread deliberately. The Supreme Court has confirmed the commission’s basic contention that there is no distinction between caste and class. Therefore the commission was justified in recommending affirmative action in favour of the backward castes which it has painstakingly enumerated in its report. However the commission had recommended the creation of infrastructure and institutional capacity to enable OBCs to derive full advantage of reservation. It certainly didn’t recommend pumping money into a few elite institutions to take education to OBCs,” says Gill.

Now we know.

Autar Nehru (New Delhi)

Cooperation votary

Kamran Rashid, public relations officer of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Faislabad (Pakistan) is all praise for Indian education.

Rashid was in Lucknow recently as member of a trade delegation under the aegis of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy (PIPFPD) (regd. 1993), an association of citizens, civil society organisations and professionals established to promote people-to-people contacts between the two countries. A strong votary of student exchanges between the two neighbouring countries, it is a recurring theme in the columns Rashid pens for newspapers, magazines, radio and television.

“As a first step towards bettering relations between the two countries, we need a common history syllabus. History books on both sides of the border perpetuate hatred and animosity. For instance we teach that our freedom fighters were always at odds with each other, fighting for their own religious causes, when the truth is that we have common heroes. Then there are the Partition carnages, which our history texts claim were government sponsored. Even today people who survived Partition are willing to speak the truth. But who listens to them since they don’t fit in with the agenda of political parties?” queries Rashid.

Although a patriot, Rashid is willing to share the shortcomings of Pakistan’s education system. “Educational facilities are few, exams are wrongly timed in the peak of summer in the vast rural hinterland. The country’s feudal zamindars are averse even to Urdu education reaching the masses; grants are negligible and seldom reach the deserving. As in India, well intentioned plans like free distribution of textbooks and uniforms suffer in implementation,” he laments.

India’s tertiary education system — especially science and technology and business education institutions — attract special praise. “India could earn vast amounts of foreign exchange and goodwill if we start sending our students here for higher education, especially in medicine and management. Right now our students go to China, Russia, Europe and America, whereas if they were to come to India, they would get world class education at much lower prices,” he says.

Meanwhile Rashid and members of the PIPFPD’s education cell are developing a common history syllabus and promoting student exchanges between the two countries. This proposal will be formally presented to their respective governments after the forum’s eighth joint convention to be held in October in Multan.

Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)