Skip to main content

ZHCES is organising a Seminar by Professor R. Govinda

ZHCES is organising a Seminar by Professor R. Govinda

Event From Date
Event End Date
Event Title
ZHCES is organising a Seminar by Professor R. Govinda
Event Details
  <strong>Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies</strong>   organising a seminar by   <strong>Professor R. Govinda</strong> Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development, Delhi on   <strong>“UEE across Seven Decades: A story of Missed Targets and Un-kept Promises”</strong>   <strong>On November 22, 2017 (Wednesday) @ 3:00 pm</strong> <strong>Room No. 207, ZHCES, SSS-II</strong>   <strong>Abstract: </strong>Provision of free and compulsory education evoked enormous interest and discussion among the members framing the Constitution inside the Constituent Assembly as well as outside. Debates and discourses that surrounded the subject in terms of its scope, implications as well as placement within the Constitution clearly showed that the UEE project was never visualised as a smooth and simple affair. As we became independent, only one out of four children were enrolled in school; adult literacy rate was a dismal 18 percent; not even one out of 10 women were literate; population was galloping making it a virtual race between literacy growth rate and population growth rate; disparities in development across regions and social groups was glaring; there were contesting demands on meagre State resources; newly formed State Governments were still coming to grips with issues of governance undoing or replacing the legacies of colonial rule. Setting any timeline or target for UEE at the national level was indeed a highly risky proposition. That was the kind of task that the country embarked on when the Constitution directed the State to ensure free and compulsory education for all children within a period of ten years. But none at that time imagined that even after seven decades the goal would remain elusive and the problem would continue to haunt us notwithstanding the adoption of Education as a Fundamental Right. An analysis of the trajectory of progress of UEE over the past decades reveals a trail of missed timelines and un-kept promises riddled with unwarranted distractions and disruptions.    <strong>About the speaker:</strong> Professor Govinda is Distinguished Professor, Council for Social Development; Formerly Vice Chancellor of the National University of Educational Planning and Administration in New Delhi. Previously he has worked in the Institute of Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, M.S. University of Baroda, Institute of Education, University of London, and International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP), UNESCO. Engaged in research in the areas of educational planning and management, literacy and non-formal education, has published extensively in these areas including a recent volume on Progress of Basic Education published by Oxford University Press. Has been a member of several national and international committees, advisory boards and is a Consultant Fellow to International Bureau of Education.

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.