Editorial 1 : From India to Global South
Context: India offers an alternate development path for Global South nations
Concept of Development Compact
- Described by PM Modi at the inauguration of the Third Voice of Global South Summit (VoGSS).
- The idea behind the concept is to leverage five different modalities of engagement in a harmonised manner, where one reinforces the other.
- These are capacity building, technology sharing, trade for development, grants and the most important, concessional finance.
- If implemented well, India’s Development Compact would set a new baseline for wider engagement with the Global South.
The State of Global South
- Due to imbalances in the modalities of engagement, a large section of the Global South has ended up in indebtedness of distressing proportions.
- Developing countries’ public debt in 2023 was $29 trillion.
- Developing countries net interest payments on public debt was $847 billion
- The debt crisis has been further accentuated by the continued failure of the OECD countries in meeting their globally agreed UN target of 1970 of providing 0.7% of GNP as ODA (official development assistance).
- OECD countries also failed on their commitment on climate change for $100 billion.
What needs to be done by the Global South?
- It is important for the Global South to go back to basics and revisit the idea of development.
- Mutual sharing of development experiences and insights on policy making would be crucial in evolving new choices.
- The idea of this year’s VoGSS is to have a development narrative based on Southern experiences and perspectives, addressing southern hopes and aspirations.
India’s recent development initiatives that can be adapted for Global South
- Sustainability
- The emphasis is on Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), re-energising SDGs and promoting renewable energy through rooftop solar panels and solar farms.
- Promoting health security
- The driving force for India is around the concept of “One World One Health”.
- India’s contribution for Arogya Maitri including assistance provided to Africa and the Pacific Island countries by building hospitals and Jan Aushadhi Kendras, assumes significance.
- Response in humanitarian crises
- India has emerged as the first responder in humanitarian crises, be that in Papua New Guinea, Kenya, Gaza and Ukraine.
- Financial Inclusion and Last Mile Connectivity
- Through UPI and Digital Public Infrastructure.
- Strengthening interlinkages in the field of education, skills and capacity building.
Institutional Frameworks
- For sharing India’s development experience, institutional frameworks would play a vital role in connecting various entities and people.
- PM Modi recalled India launching the Global South Centre of Excellence, called DAKSHIN, for knowledge promotion, experience sharing and evolving programmes for skills and capacity building.
- The role of such institutions is to promote a two-way flow of knowledge and experiences.
Other dimensions
- Policy impact analysis and trade performance have been weak links in the development journey of the Global South.
- Keeping this in mind, a special fund for capacity building with $2.5 million and $1 million for training in trade policy making has been announced.
Way Forward
- Global South needs to come together for voicing their common concerns and also bringing in positive approaches for global solutions.
- VoGSS as a platform to discuss the issues is an important initiative in a world where democratically elected governments face uncertainty and vulnerability.
Editorial 2 : Have you heard the teacher?
Context: Teachers Day 2024
The underlying problem in the education system
- Teachers are not involved in choosing the changes or making the reforms they are supposed to implement.
- Teachers are not trusted in our system and are perceived as culprits.
- Anyone can teach, is a common view. Many others feel that teachers don’t want to work, so they don’t deserve the salary they get.
- There is the view that teachers form an obstacle to reforms, so the only way to bring changes is by forcing teachers to adapt.
- Comparisons between government and private school teachers always show the former in a poor light, furnishing easy justification for parental preferences for private schools.
Challenges faced by teachers
- Pressure to conform and with the advent of digital life school teachers have lost their autonomy.
- The circumstances have encouraged distrust towards the teacher to grow exponentially.
The Rise and Rise of Coaching Industry
- The coaching industry has stumped the pundits of education. Coaching has usurped secondary education in both government and private schools.
- By calling its employees “teachers”, the coaching industry has quietly changed the mould that defined both teaching and the format of exams.
- Multiple choice questions (MCQs) are the dominant currency of knowledge now. It gives the class teacher just one choice: To conform.
Distinction between Coach and teacher
- The market has brought closer, the distinction between coaching and teaching.
- The coach has a limited objective and he (most publicised coaches are male) plays a narrow role in an adolescent’s life.
- A teacher, faces the full gamut of needs that adolescence brings, in addition to academic demands.
- For many students the secondary teacher plays a decisive role, and is remembered with gratitude.
Primary and Pre-Primary teachers
- The role of primary and pre-primary teachers is seldom remembered. Nor are they recognised within the system, especially by administrators.
- primary teacher has no status in our society and the early childhood teacher has even less.
- She performs the sensitive task of inducting the child into a community of knowledge in every field, creating predispositions that shape the child’s interests and intellectual energy.
- The tradition and the rule structure uphold the norm that the younger the child you teach, the lower your status and salary.
Reforms in Higher Education System
- In the higher education system, huge shifts in established practice have occurred.
- The changes include the semester system, four-year undergraduate programme, centralised admission through a MCQ-based test.
- Teachers have been critical and sceptical of these tectonic changes.
Ad-hoc teachers
- For many years now, ad hoc teachers have kept the system going. With their careers compromised, they feel deeply unhappy.
- A swelling workload and an increasing student-teacher ratio have incapacitated their professional growth.
- Their job is just as important as that of junior doctors, but universities and colleges have no emergency ward.
Conclusion: Unhappy Teachers
- Teachers are victims of a prejudiced public perception.
- Teachers’ Day is a good occasion to remember that no nation can escape paying a heavy price for making its teachers chronically unhappy.
- Their frustration, takes a heavy toll on the nation’s human resource, and the cost multiplies with each passing year.