'Reform admission process in universities'

India Gazette (IANS) Saturday 4th February, 2012

Heads of various schools in the capital Saturday stressed upon the need to reform the admission process at Indian universities as a natural extension to the recent reforms in school education.

Speaking at the 'One Globe 2012 knowledge conference' here, panellists agreed that school education needs to be broad-based and holistic.

Said D.R. Saini, principal of Delhi Public School R.K. Puram: "The higher education system needs to adopt the principle of root-shoot-fruit to help alleviate brain drain from India."

"While the schools provide the roots, the shoot is missing since getting admissions to good universities in India is difficult and promising students are often compelled to seek admissions abroad.

"As a result, India is unable to bear the true fruits of talent," he said.

Emphasising on the need for project-based approach to education in schools, Kaye Annette Jacob, associate director of The Heritage Schools said: "India has a rich educational tradition and heritage from Gandhi to Tagore to Aurobindo.

"There is a need to muster courage to change the educational system to keep it in sync with today's times," he said.

"We're on the verge of breaking through the silos of streams that are no longer relevant for higher education. Schools today are adopting novel ways of connecting with students through experiential learning by creating authentic projects," he added.

Arun Kapur, director of Vasant Valley School, was of the opinion that it is not the school examination that causes stress among students but the fear of not getting admissions in good universities.

"The university admission process is faulty and only looks at numbers scored by students in the schools which should change," he said.