Fundamental Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education in India

Thursday the first day of April 2010 marks a special day for Indian children as the right of children to free and compulsory education (FCE) act 2009 is came into force. The right to education inhabits a central place as education can help to develop the skills, confidence and ability to secure all other rights. Hence, the right to education is also an enabling right to exercise all other rights. The constitutional commitment to free education for all children has existed since 1950 but now it has become a legal obligation enforceable through the courts. However, many challenges are on the path to meet the UNESCO’s goal on universal primary education to all children by 2015. The objectives of this article are to (1) show a landmark accomplishment of the country’s development by the right of children to FCE act 2009 in general and in the field of education in specific; (2) determine challenges to be addressed to achieve the desired quality outcome; and (3) create an awareness for collective commitments to address the known and unknown challenges.

Background
Dr Aradhya and Kashyap mentioned a history on the demand for a law on FCE in India. The history starts with Dadabhai Naoroji and Jyothiba Phule’s demand of state sponsored free education for all children in 1882; the first law on compulsory education introduced by the state of Baroda in 1906; Gopal Krishna Gokhale’s unsuccessful Bill in 1911 to Article 45 Indian constitution 1950 as directive principle in which states required to ensure the provision of FCE to all children till the age of fourteen to be attained in 1960. Several developments were proposed and/or implemented between 1950 and 1992-93 keeping right to education as a directive principle. The rulings by the Supreme Court of India (AIR 1992 SC 1858 and AIR 1993 SC 2178) led need for effective guarantees as they state the right to education up to age fourteen provided by the constitution was a fundamental right. Following that judgments and other action by the groups, fundamental right to education was inserted in the constitution by the eighty sixth constitution amendment act 2002. The right to education act 2009 is a law that enable the implementation of the constitution amendment.

Main Provisions in the Act
A few salient features and provisions extracted from the right of children to FCE act 2009 and its model rules.
• Every child, including disable, of the age six to fourteen have right to FCE in a neighbourhood school till completion of elementary, from first to eighth class education. The education is free of cost including school fees, text books, writing materials and uniforms, and if required transportation, residential and other facilities. Compulsory indicates compulsory admission, attendance and completion of the elementary education.
• The out-of-school children allow in an appropriate class based on their age after a special training for the duration of a minimum three months to maximum two years.
• Appropriate government may make necessary arrangement to provide early childhood care and free pre-school education for children of the age three to six with a view to prepare them for the elementary education.
• The schools have to provide minimum facilities, such as school building, adequate teachers according to the numbers of children in each class, library and play material.
• The government schools provide FCE to all and aided schools to proportion, but minimum twenty five percent, of admitted children. The specified category schools like Kendriya, Navodaya and Sainik schools, and private unaided schools admit minimum twenty five percent children of weaker and disadvantaged groups, such as poor, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and the socially and educationally backward class, and provide FCE for which the government would reimburse the expenditure. The same admission provisions are for pre-school.
• Collection of any capitation fees is punishable as well as any screening procedure for admission.
• In absence of a birth certificate, a hospital register record, anganwadi record or an affidavit is enough as a proof of age for the purpose of admission in the schools.
• The central government shall develop a framework of national curriculum, develop and enforce standards for teachers training.

India is a signatory to key international instruments, such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, that guarantee the right to education for all (EFA). However, India was an exception to the global trend towards the establishment of compulsory universal primary education as many countries, such as Ghana, Ivory Coast, Libya, Zambia and Zimbabwe, with income levels lower than India have done better in this area. Now with this law, India joins over 135 countries that have legal guarantees to provide FCE to children and becomes an actual participant country to these international instruments.

Current Status of Primary Education
Despite of all the commitments made by the governments under international instruments for providing EFA, particularly FCE to children, millions of children still remain deprived of educational opportunities. UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Report 2010 presents progress in reducing out-of-school children by about third, a decline of 33 million, to 71 million. Much of the decline took place in India after the 2001 launch of the universal primary education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) program but out-of-school children are still 10% of the global total, more than 7 million. Furthermore, the facts from household surveys suggest that administrative data may underestimate out-of-school children, by 16 million, more than twice the official figure.

Primary education is a most critical requirement at early age for acquiring basic competencies and life skills. India has achieved a milestone in education field by this ground-breaking act but this essential law alone is insufficient to make effective impact on ignorant parents and to cover the large number of out-of-school children. Some parents may have compelling reasons to keep their children out-of-school, such as the children are more needed in earning for family maintenance, household chores or minding younger and very old kin, as the figure in the UNICEF report indicates the same that 12% children aged five to fourteen were involved in labour activities in 2008. A child is considered to be involved in labour if at least one hour of economic activity or at least 28 hours of domestic work done by five to eleven year olds during a week and at least 14 hours of economic activity or at least 42 hours of combined economic activity and domestic work done by twelve to fourteen year olds. Some parents may be unaware as it is happening in birth registration that in India less than 50% children are registered at birth. Children are out-of-school may be because they are children of workers who are on frequent move, children of illegal migrants, domestic servants, displaced, street children, etc.

Low levels of parental education and family poverty are two main obstructions regardless other disadvantages, such as age, gender, place of residence, language, ethnicity or caste but the two obstructions combined with any of these disadvantages create multiple obstructions to school entry, attendance and to keep children in school. According to the latest EFA Report, a child in India spends on average over seven years in school, rich urban children more than eleven years, poor rural boys less than six, poor rural girls three and poor girls in the state of Bihar on average two years in school. The study using household survey data found about 60% attendance gap for scheduled caste children aged six to fourteen could be mainly due to poverty and lower parental education. The study of 400 slum-dwelling in Delhi found only half the primary school age children were in school whereas citywide enrolment rate was more than 90%. A study in 2006 shows only 66% enrol in grade one reach the last grade and 13 to 15% students dropped out before completing the first grade.

Child Labour
India has the largest number of child labourers under the age of fourteen including an estimated 12.6 million engaged in hazardous occupations. Despite of regulations child labourers exist as those children have to work for survival and full-time education is a luxury for them than a fundamental right. An enormous continuous effort is required from all the stakeholders to change this luxury into fundamental right. The problem of child labour could be taken care of to some extent by FCE combined with early childhood care and education (ECCE). An alternative income or study allowance could be more effective measure moving child from labour work to education. Meanwhile learn while earn is a necessity for working children. The same approach has taken by the Supreme Court of India mandating a reduction of working hours to maximum six hours a day for child labour coupled with at least two hours of education at the expense of the employer (AIR 1997 SC 699).

Role of Early Childhood Care and Education
Although the right of children to FCE act 2009 mentions ECCE it covers only education from first to eight grades. Children from disadvantaged households have the most to gain from ECCE as early interventions have much higher returns, and the most to lose from being excluded as it could lead to the promotion of child labour and other forms of inequity. When children enter in primary education at the age of six, gap in language and other skills due to poverty and other disadvantages are much apparent that those children can hardly catch up with the children who have participated in ECCE programs from the age of three and have exposure of language-rich environments. Early childhood is a highly sensitive period for most of the developments, such as physical, motor development, cognitive, language, social and emotional. A child receives extremely poor ECCE, as may be in poor households and some orphanages, is likely to suffer from the development deficits that are difficult to rectify later. The results of the study conducted in the United States show the importance of exposing children to language-rich ambience. By age four, child of a professional has heard 50 million words, a working-class family 30 million and child of a welfare recipient has 12 million words. The nature of verbal interaction also differs with socio-economic background as by age three, the child of professional has received 0.7 million encouragements while the child of welfare recipient 60,000. The children from lower socio-economic backgrounds are likely to face more difficulties later in learning and adapting surroundings if difficulties with language development are ignored in early life. A good-quality ECCE can provide a better environment for language development to compensate the disadvantage at home as school entry at the age of six does little to reduce the gap. Good-quality ECCE is good for all children but particularly for those who are from disadvantaged households as ECCE can play an important role to balance disadvantage in the area of social, economic and language, and can cut the transmission cycle of the disadvantage across generations. Several governments, such as United Kingdom, are scaling up early childhood care as part of wider anti-poverty initiatives. The studies in Cape Verde, Egypt, Guinea, Jamaica and Nepal have consistently found most disadvantaged children benefit from ECCE programs regardless poverty, gender, ethnicity, caste or religion. ECCE not only enhance such developments but work as a powerful boost to education, improve primary school enrolment, attendance and performance and can reduce inequalities. These benefits are well discussed and justified with the research studies and empirical examples in the UNESCO and UNICEF reports.

The positive impact of ECCE program participation on education at the primary level and beyond is well documented that ECCE can increase school readiness, enrolment in the first grade, completion of school education and achievement, and can reduce delayed enrolment, dropout and grade repetition. The evaluation of some programs in both developed and developing countries shows participation in good-quality ECCE contributes the quality with achievement at subsequent levels of education. In a disadvantaged district of Nepal, 95% children who attended an ECCE program went on to primary school, had significantly higher marks and repetition rate was one-seventh in the grade one, than 75% who failed to attend. ECCE experience in the United Kingdom shows improved intellectual development, concentration, independence and sociability during the first three years of primary education. An African country achieved the higher completion rate and the lower repetition rate in primary school due to higher ECCE enrolment ratio. Children in Kenya, Uganda and Zanzibar had better language skills and results until grade four than who missed ECCE programs. Twelve year olds who had participated in good-quality ECCE in New Zealand performed better in reading and mathematics. Class retention of low-income and immigrant children in primary school increased by 9 to 17% with wider literacy and numeracy benefits due to the French ECCE program. The study on the Turkish Early Enrichment Project, comprising pre-school and parenting skills, in low-income low-education areas of Istanbul shows 86% children are still being in school after seven years, than 67% who fail to take part in the project. ECCE can also an instrument to improve girls’ enrolment in school as when young children attend ECCE programs their female kin are relieved from care responsibilities, which is a barrier to girls’ education. Children who have positive learning experiences in ECCE make a better transition to primary school and beyond, and are more likely to begin and complete it at the appropriate age. ECCE can improve the effectiveness of the FCE and decrease costs for both governments and households by reducing dropout, repetition and the special trainings for delayed entry.

Acknowledging the benefits of good-quality ECCE, most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries provide at least two years of free ECCE. Although the specific effects are a subject of debate, good-quality ECCE has the potential to enhance children’s well-being in formative years; complement the care received at home; compensate disadvantages; provide easier transition to primary education; better completion rates; increase social equality; high economic returns; reduce poverty; and to weaken the influence of parental factors on later education achievement. Instead mere extension of formal school, ECCE programs should be adaptable, developmentally appropriate and responsive to the needs and interests of pre-school children.

Quality of Education
Quality education is an agenda of almost every country to ensure students acquire decent learning, values and life skills including life-long learning skills that help them to play a positive role in their societies. However, quality education and its assessment is a subject of debate as less agreement on a single concept and the concept means in practice. Quality education is a dynamic concept that changes and evolves with time and social, economic and environmental contexts of place. Many quality indicators are identified, such as learners’ cognitive development and role of education in promoting commonly shared values, attitudes of responsible citizen and in creative and emotional development.

India has hardly adopted any international or national level assessments that measure learning achievements. Assessments during primary school years provide an opportunity to identify growth and remedial measures to prevent dropout. In rural India, only 28% grade three students could subtract two-digit numbers and only a third could tell the time in 2008. During 2005, a study is conducted to compare learning achievements of the students from Orissa and Rajasthan states in India and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) participating countries. The results showed ninth grade students ranked alongside students from the poorest performing TIMSS countries and the range in scores was wider than for all countries except South Africa.

Major influencing factors on quality education are learner characteristics, teaching and learning, learning outcomes and contexts of place. Learner characteristics include aptitude, perseverance, school readiness, prior knowledge and barriers to learning. FCE with ECCE and such other measures can improve learners’ characteristics. Teaching and learning comprises teaching methods including assessment, feedback and incentives, learning time, class size, teaching and learning materials, physical infrastructure and facilities, school governance and human resources, such as teachers, inspectors, officials and principals. The dynamics of the teaching and learning process, such as adaptable teaching methods according to the learners’ characteristics and contexts, interaction in the classroom, use of instructional and other materials, and feedback mechanisms for learners’ improvement, play an important role in better learning. Teachers obviously play a key role in the dynamics of the teaching and learning process regardless policies for quality education. Therefore, the teachers related matters are significant, such as rigorous entry and continuing criteria for teachers, balanced workloads suitable to impart quality education, periodic trainings, handsome salary and service conditions. Role of core subjects, pedagogy, language and leadership are also to be considered for better learning. Learning outcomes consider development in many areas including literacy, numeracy, life skills, life-long learning skills, perceptions, behaviours, creative and emotional skills, values, attitudes of responsible citizen along with social benefits from them. India needs a national level continuous assessment system up to higher secondary level to identify students’ growth in the learning outcomes comparable with their own previous assessments. Evaluations of literacy and numeracy are easy than the other learning outcomes. A framework of national curriculum, uniform teachers’ training and related norms are required, and already indicated in the right of children to FCE act 2009, to conduct national level assessments and for easy transition in case of child relocate to another school.

Involving communities in skills development is a key to success as well as continuous teachers training. In India, a 2005 survey in a district of Uttar Pradesh revealed poor reading skills among seven to fourteen year olds as 60% could not read and understand a story intended for first grade students. A randomised evaluation showed information sharing hardly improved reading skills but remedial reading camps, additional two hours reading classes a day over three months, run by volunteer trainers achieved significant improvements in early reading. In a district of Kenya, teachers were trained for five days to teach effective reading skills to grade two students. The result showed reading speeds of grade two students had improved on average 80% after the teachers training. More children centred and resource-rich libraries are needed in and outside schools in India. A provision of continuous reading is needed in the curriculum from pre-school to secondary school so that effective reading becomes a life-long habit.

Significance of Higher Education
Poverty is a strongest factor contributing to out-of-education and the transmission of poverty across generations. Poverty is also a source of vulnerability as when poor people hit by an economic or health problem which affect children’s education and may lead poverty to next generation. Education can be a powerful medium to break poverty transmission mechanisms. However, poverty itself is a strong constraint for education opportunities, stimulating the transmission of the disadvantages across generations. The role of education deserves far greater recognition as part of an anti-poverty strategy as well as for education across generations. Ignoring importance of secondary and higher education for current generation could lead the next generation with low levels of education as in India, children of mothers with secondary or higher education are three times more likely to attend pre-school programs than children of mothers with no education. Maternal education has an impact on the United States pre-school participation as attendance rates of four year olds were 55% for children of mothers who have dropped out of secondary school but 87% for children of mothers with a college education. Although it is a high financial investment for the governments in India, a study allowance or income support (may be as a loan with the help of financial organisations) up to higher education for the students from poor households can break chain of out-of-education and poverty cycle.

Collective Commitments
Many known and unknown sources need to address to achieve the goals of FCE. Combined substantial efforts are essential from every related citizen and organisation to achieve the desired and quality output, to translate this law into reality and to eliminate gap between promise and performance. More responsibilities lie with the governments, schools, teachers, parents/guardians, non-government and charity organisations working in education field and social workers. More acts, policies, laws, procedures, monitoring systems for progress and performance may needed for effective implementation of the right of children to FCE act 2009 and effective output of teaching-learning process. Let us put all the head and hand efforts together and support the children’s own good, greater good of the country and globe.

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References are excluded due to space but major references are UNESCO EFA Global Monitoring Reports and publications, UNICEF publications, related papers, the judgments of Supreme Court of India, the constitution amendment act 2002, the right of children to FCE act 2009 and its model rules.

Sustainable Information Technology Ecosystems

(Published in Deccan Chronicle newspaper on Sunday, March 7, 2010.)

Many researchers discuss the need for sustainable or green Information Technology(IT) ecosystems. Sustainability is defined, by United Nations Brundtland Commission, as "meet present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs". The IT ecosystems includes computer hardware, software, communication devices, networks, their interconnected and dynamic relationships, facilities, such as computer centres, data centres, electrical power systems, air-conditioning equipments, management strategy and organisational culture.

The organisations going green are putting their sustainability efforts towards energy and environment considering concerns on energy crises, increasing energy costs, the threats from hazardous materials and climate change. IT is the central system for most of the organisations and uses a lot of power operated resources. IT produces more hazardous materials as it changes its hardware in every three to four years. Therefore, IT is a part of the energy and environment problem. However, IT can be a part of the solution using applications, such as teleworking, cloud computing, videoconferencing, VoIP and virtual visits, which consume relatively less energy and likely to reduce waste.

Today’s situation is alarming for energy consumption, electronic waste and greenhouse gas emissions. According to a 2006 Gartner report, energy costs in a few years could rise to more than 50% of an overall IT budget. The Environmental Protection Agency states that in year 2007 more than 63 million computers in the United States were replaced or thrown. This electronic waste spreads a toxic cocktail of chemicals in the soil. McKinsey forecasts that carbon footprint of IT will triple during 2002 to 2020 from today’s estimated 2 to 2.5%.

Initiatives for sustainable IT are seen as feel good and soft initiatives that are considered divorced from the activities to cut costs. But the studies show going green is not only cutting or saving costs but good for both business and the environment. According to the Global e-Sustainability Initiative(GeSI), IT industry could save $800 billion dollars in energy costs by 2020 by implementing energy-efficient policies. The GeSI’s SMART 2020 report highlights that "IT sectors could drive a reduction of up to 15% of global emissions, or more than five times the footprint of the sector itself, and create new business lines worth hundreds of billions of dollars in the process".

Going green requires a systematic planning including use of energy-efficient equipments, energy management, optimisation process by consolidation of servers and storage utilisation, virtualisation of servers, storage and applications, IT life cycle strategies, etc. The need of the day is securing smart grids, implementation of wireless networks instead of wired, use of recycled papers and both side printing if required and a responsible way to reuse, buy back and recycle computers, networks and cooling equipments.

According to the Aug 2007 EPA Report, best energy-management practices and high efficiency technologies can reduce power use in data centres by 30% and for cooling and power equipments up to 70%. Replacing CRT monitors by LCD monitors are extremely economical as relatively less power consumption, longer life span and lower air-conditioning bills due to less heat generation. Arthur D. Little reports that PCs waste $5.5 billion of power every year. The average desktop/monitor combination consumes up to 2000 kilowatt-hours(kWh) of electricity per year whereas a typical laptop with an LCD monitor consumes less about 570 kWh per year.

Reduction in energy consumption, waste and gas emissions can be possible with proper implementation of IT applications. Telecommuting (work from home) can reduce not only automobile travel but energy use by reducing the amount of dedicated office space. Using telecommuting, last year IBM was able to save $97 million in travel costs and was able to avoid more than 68,000 tons of CO2 emissions. IBM saves $1 billion in real-estate costs every year and claims another $16.5 million in cost savings from using instant messaging instead of the phone. Going green is a better way to save energy and the environment.

Electoral and Political Reforms

Support to all the following action items of the sixth National Conference on Electoral and Political Reforms organised by Association for Democratic Reforms.
1. A set of demands include barring candidates against whom serious charges have been framed in a court, disqualifying candidates who indulge in electoral malpractices, striking off names of people with non bailable warrants from voter rolls and the option of "None of the Above" on the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
2. The need for a comprehensive Bill to regulate Political Parties. The issues of inner party democracy in political parties, and greater transparency and regulation of political party funding is required.
3. Specific action plan for carrying the National Election Watch (NEW) campaign forward.

Following few suggestions for discussion in the conference and to include them as action items if feasible.
1. A minimum educational/professional qualification and/or few years of experience in a professional field/social work are required to contest an election as elected members are working for the government and receiving salary, allowances and pension like any other employee. Being an organisation of high repute, government must have well defined eligibility criteria, recruitment rules for all the positions including for prime minister, chief ministers, cabinet ministers, state ministers and for members of parliament, state assembly, municipal council and Panchayat as rules applied to work for any position from a peon to managing director in any organisation.
2. Election agenda must contain detailed information about each agenda item and goal including the current status of the agenda item and the target to be achieved during the term of governance; a method to achieve the target; a detailed plan including work breakdown structure with activities, tasks, and milestones with a provision of periodical feedbacks from the people; a detailed schedule including timeline with starting and ending dates of each task; details regarding required financial, human and other resources; details regarding members of advisory team who are highly knowledgeable in the area and able to advice on the matter, core team who are ground level workers and coordinators, and monitoring team to monitor progress and performance; and details regarding appraisal system. For more details please read my article, Government Should Work in a Professional Way as a Corporate; Corporate India. Such detailed election agenda can help decision making process of voters as well as shows commitment of the political party, own responsibilities and how the party will contribute for which and what benefits of India.
3. All types of election campaign and propaganda are allowed only information and discussion on candidate’s plan on his/her contribution to future development during term; information and discussion on past performance of individuals and political party should be legally banned as well as any type of comments on opposition candidates and parties. Such practices will create a positive and progressive environment.

Please Volunteer to Do a Little for our Kids

Please participate in Earth Hour 2010, a worldwide effort to reduce energy consumption, and join millions of concerned citizens throughout the world in calling for action to save our planet for future generations.

Participating is easy, fun and absolutely free by turning off the lights and nonessential electrical appliances in our homes, offices and city between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Saturday 27 March 2010 and sign up here.

Earth Hour started in 2007 in Sydney, Australia when 2.2 million homes and businesses turned their lights off for one hour. Year later, Earth Hour had become a global sustainability movement with involvement of more than 50 million people across 35 countries. Global landmarks such as the, Sydney Harbour Bridge, CN Tower in Toronto, Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and Rome’s Colosseum, stood in darkness. In 2009, hundreds of millions of people took part in the third Earth Hour from more than 4000 cities in 88 countries to pledge their support for the planet. Let us make 2010 the biggest Earth Hour!

Involvement in Earth Hour is just one part of our big commitment to energy conservation. Be inspired by it and take steps to reduce our climate footprint all year round.

Please encourage people you know to take part, remember March 27 at 8:30 pm, switch off and show what can be done.

Courses on Positive Parenting Should be Included in All Educational Programs

Parenting is a chosen life long responsibility in which there is no retirement. Professor Matthew Sanders, from the University of Queensland, mentioned in an introductory seminar on Positive Parenting Program that it is easy to be a chairman/director of an international company than a parent.

Many definitions are available for parenting. For some parenting is to facilitate a child’s optimal development within a safe environment [Reder, P., Duncan, S. & Lucey, C. Studies in the Assessment of Parenting. London: Routledge. 2003] and for others parenting is teaching your child the difference between right and wrong, how to survive in the world and giving your child undivided love and support. For some parenting tasks includes sensitivity to a child’s needs, social communication, emotional expressiveness and disciplinary control [Rutter, M. Resilience in the face of adversity. British Journal of Psychiatry. 147: 598-611. 1985] and for others parenting is adaptability to the changing requirements and circumstances of the child. [Azar, S.T. & Cote, L.R. Sociocultural issues in the evaluation of the needs of children in custody decisionmaking: What do our current frameworks for evaluating parenting practices have to offer? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry. 25: 193-217. 2002].

Parenting required quality time, patient, perceptiveness, active involvement, responsiveness, flexibility and many more characteristics. Parents are responsible to provide a healthy environment in which children grow happily, freely and become a better citizen. Parents’ roles change according to growth of their kids. But a thorough training is needed to deal with very dynamic, demanding, diversified and nondeterministic parenting roles as parenting is more complicated than a profession.

As far as parenting is concern, we still rely on ancient system of education that is learning by seeing or asking but without a systematic education. Most of the parents learn parenting by seeing what other parents are doing and recalling what their parents were doing or they do parenting intuitively. When parents encounter serious problems with their children, they ask other parents (in their opinion good parents) what to do; read books/articles or seek help from an expert. However, formal education on positive parenting for all will produce good to best parents and better generations by them.

Academic Integrity

Few months back in the beginning of economic recession, I read following discussion title at a social web site of professionals. “Are businesses and economies collapsing today because we’ve overstepped our moral ethics and practices as model citizens economically and socially?”

The recent economics offences, that affected worldwide as a recession, have been done by well educated professionals, so called “model” citizens. In addition to learning their profession they have learned the practices of offences or they have missed learning of integrity during their education. The Centre for Academic Integrity (CAI) defines “academic integrity as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behaviour that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action.” The CAI also mentioned “research shows that student cheating is on the rise and that the pressures and opportunities for dishonest behaviour are increasing in many academic and professional contexts.” My last few years' experience in academic supports the same. In addition to plagiarism, cheating, lying, fraud and shoddy work in every activities of assessment (written assignments, software development including computer programs, exams, daily activities journal or diary, schedule tracking, reviews of their time spending, peer evaluations etc.) I have also experienced a dishonest behaviour during a simple fun activity which has no assessment connected to it. May be it becomes their habit due to their every day practice of dishonest behaviours!

Last semester I was teaching a topic software project management to a third year undergraduate class by applying learning while playing technique. The students had to do a simple exercise from a childhood play of origami, preparation of three types of paper aeroplanes in a team. The aim of this class exercise was to teach them, initially set quality and quantity target of a product, do planning and scheduling, carry out team work with harmony to achieve the target, check quality of the product and review the process to find out lessons learned. The class size was 211 students which were divided into 43 teams and each team had 4 or 5 students.

They have been informed the sequence of processes expected from them in the class exercise. In the first 20 minutes each team has to: read the instructions for making each type of paper aeroplane; prepare each types of plane to determine the time to prepare each type of plane; check quality of planes by flying them; plan team work for real production; and then set target statement, such that they will produce 20 planes of each type and all of them will be able to fly more than 3 meters high from one end to another end of the class hall. The next 15 minutes was for production of aeroplanes, next 15 minutes to check quality of the planes and the last 15 minutes was to discuss lessons learned in this exercise.

At the end of discussion on the expectations, all the teams have had shown their comfort with origami and were keen to enjoy the fun. When “Time starts” announced for the first 20 minutes of the exercise, all of them have had happily started to work according to the given instructions. As usual these are one of the moments provide me motivation to do as much as possible for my students when I see them learning with fun. But after 15 minutes, a student complained that a few teams have had started to work on the production of aeroplanes. Similar practice was followed by few more teams after knowing the complaint. They were not only missing the lessons from the exercise but also an innocent fun!

Follow Your Dream but Need a Support

The Alchemist is a positive novel by a well known Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, first published in 1988. It is a well written and simple to read fable except little verbose at places but one would like to finish it in one sitting. The hero of the tale, Santiago, thinks he would introduce one character at a time in a story to make reading easier. The same approach has been implemented in the story. Only three named characters are there, Santiago, Fatima, a love of the hero, and Melchizedek, an old man, the king of Salem. Other characters are the daughter of a dry goods shop merchant, the dry goods shop merchant, the Gypsy woman, the thief, the crystal glassware merchant, the Englishman, the alchemist and few more.

Without mentioning details, the hero as a shepherd, brings up the dream in the beginning of the tale when he spends a night in the small abandoned church. Then he talks some thing else how his father has encouraged his wish to travel with a hope “someday you will learn that our countryside is the best, and our women the most beautiful” [Page 9-10]. He also shows his excitement that he will reach to the girl, the daughter of a dry goods shop merchant, in about four days that she is the one who could make him forget the joys of carefree wandering. But before reaching to the girl he takes help of a Gypsy old woman to interpret his dream. Melchizedek appears voluntarily and shows him a path to a hidden treasure near the Pyramids in Egypt.

A philosophy, reiterated few times, is, “when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it” [Page 23]. “When you play cards first time, you are almost sure to win. It’s beginner’s luck. It whets your appetite with a taste of success.” [Page 30]. The author believes in youth’s courage. The help from universe is possible in young age only because young people know their destiny. Everything is possible because they dare to dream and do everything to accomplish the dream. But when they become older, a negative force influences them that they have no control and their lives are controlled by fate. It is mentioned as the world’s greatest lie. A statement is also available that people are capable of doing what they dream at any time in their lives.

An example of an old person is given as the crystal merchant who believes in “Maktub”, fate, it is written. He has been in the same place for thirty years and thinking it is too late for him to change anything. His dream of going to Mecca is differed by putting a head earning. He knows his dream and also knows the people who are less fortunate than him have realised the same dream but he does not want to fulfil it by saying its dream.

Another example of the young baker is given, he chooses to buy bakery first and decided to follow his dream of travel after sufficient savings.

A small story of giving up early that resulted in broken stone-emerald has been mentioned to demonstrate importance of perseverance in achieving a dream. Another small story is given in support of secret of happiness; enjoy surrounding while enjoying work, “see all the marvels of the world and never forget the drops of oil on the spoon” [Page 34].

Some events show frustrations are also a part of the journey. The hero’s soul fallen silent when the merchant inform him even working for an entire year may not enough to get to Egypt. He wishes he had died because no hope and no treasure. In this frustration he has decided to work to buy some sheep instead of finding the treasure.

The hero wins heart and trust of the crystal merchant by proactive acts. He cleans the crystal glasses and builds a display to attract customers. The sales of glasses also increase by his innovative idea of serving tea in the glasses. It shows importance of proactive acts by which one can change the circumstances/outcomes in favour.

Some events are also available to show there are always hurdles in achieving your dreams as one is being constantly subjected to tests his/her persistence and courage. The hero becomes victim of a thief in the first step towards the treasure. In the morning he was a shepherd, owner of a flock of sheep and optimistic to meet the daughter of the merchant. But in the evening he was crying in a strange land because he lost his money (he has received by selling the sheep) and lost hope to discover the treasure. It seems the beginner’s luck is no more working. Another hurdle was delay in search of the treasure due to tribal wars in the desert. But it turns into a blessing because he falls in love with Fatima during this time. Fatima becomes more important than his dream of treasure.

He wants to stay at the oasis because of his own fear that he may never come back to Fatima. Fatima and the alchemist convinced him that true love makes you strong not weak. Fatima told him she wants him to pursue his dream of treasure. The alchemist takes him on a scenario if he stays back and does not follow the dream: he will initially enjoy with Fatima by ignoring omens about the treasure; then after few years Fatima will be unhappy as she will feel she interrupted his pursue, although, she never asked him to stay; he will be a rich merchant but will spend rest of the life thinking it’s too late to achieve the treasure. “You must understand that love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny. If he abandons that pursue, it’s because it wasn’t true love” [page 126].

Everything in life has its price. He agreed to pay a part of the treasure to the Gypsy woman to interpret the dream and paid a flock of sheep to the king for showing a path to the treasure. The treasure was there in the sycamore in the sacristy of the small abandoned church, Andalusia countryside, Spain from where the hero has started the journey for the treasure to Egypt. He lost the money in the beginning at Tangier port of Africa. He worked about a year in the crystal merchant’s shop. He joined a caravan to Al-Fayoum, Egypt, travelled the unpredictable desert taking detours. He suffered three days under the threat of death. Even while digging for treasure he had been threaten by refugees. After facing many problems, learning and discovering many things, he came back at the starting point in the church and acquired the treasure.

A philosophy “when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too” [page 158] described using hero’s example who turns out to be a good disciple of the alchemist. Alchemists discover the Soul of the World, the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Life. The principal that governs all things is called the Soul of the World. A small silver of the Philosopher’s Stone can transform large quantities of metal into gold. The Elixir of Life cures all illnesses and keeps the alchemist young. The hero gathers information about alchemists from the Englishman and his book. He learns from the alchemist how to listen his heart. He understands forces of nature and discovers the Soul of the World under the fear of death.

A strength provider force like love, motivation, moral support, encouragement, good omen and fear was always there to help him in following the dream. First encouragement he received from his father to fulfil his travel wish. Affection for the daughter of the merchant brought a little excitement and uneasiness in his carefree life. Interpretation of the dream by the Gypsy woman and the path showing help from the king encouraged him to follow the dream. A moral support of the king and good omen he felt through the stones when he lost his money. Again he felt presence of the king through the stones when he earned enough money to buy sheep and considered to go back Spain. It inspired him to think that he can always go back to being a shepherd, could always become a crystal salesman again but will never have another chance to get to the Pyramids. Fatima and her love motivated him to follow the dream. The guidance, support and accompany towards the way to the Pyramids from the alchemist provided strength to him. The fear of death helped him to discover the Soul of the World. Does it mean not only courage but support in a form of love, motivational words etc. are also required to fulfil a dream? Are these strength provider forces help from entire universe?

Looking forward for the author’s new novel “The Winner Stands Alone”; the author’s comments on it are available at here.