akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IIT-Delhi-rolls-out-etiquette-lessons-for-SC/ST-students/articleshow/9045403.cms MUMBAI: Even before this year's freshmen enter the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, some others will be pushed to pick up etiquette lessons required to live on the tech school campus. The objective may be well-intentioned but putting just the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates through a 'self-enrichment programme' has prompted experts to criticize the move as "smacking of apartheid" and causing a "distinction" between two sets of students on the basis of caste. Delhi is the only IIT to have felt the pressing need to put all the selected SC/ST candidates through classes on manners. The co-ed programme—which will be run from July 10 to July 17—is made up of modules on communication, personality development and theatre for communication (more like public speaking). Put together, "in all logical integrity, it is meant to boost the confidence of students who come from a different background", say IIT-Delhi heads. But not everyone thinks of the "correctional programme" as a means to achieve equilibrium among campus residents. An IIT-Delhi faculty member snorts at the idea. "A campus is a symbol of assimilation of many minds and several lives. To carve out a group on the basis of their origins and put them through a training programme—I would term it nothing short of apartheid." Many parents too aren't kicked about the idea. "On day one, the institute is telling my child that he is different," rues a parent from Andhra Pradesh whose son is joining IIT-D. TISS director S Parasuraman feels it is not useful to segregate students at all. "Every student who joins IIT knows his/her maths but may not be able to write good English. All students from rural and underprivileged backgrounds need adjustment but putting them through a training programme is not the answer. IIT-Delhi needs to have a long-term support system in place and hire better counsellors for every student, not just SC/STs or OBCs," he says. The residential programme is conducted by the Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation, Kerala (CREST). It will enable SC/ST students to develop social skills, orientation and have the ability to adapt to the environment at IIT Delhi, states the note sent to all the SC/ST students. Ashley Paul, a CREST co-ordinator, says, "Most of these students don't have the social capital; they are mostly first-generation learners and they come from rural parts of India. The course leaves them a lot more certain than when they walked in." From classes in communication to touching on all aspects of personality development, Paul says the course is meant to help students shed their inhibitions and "come out of their shell". But IIT-D director Surendra Prasad says he would love to leave the door open for any general category student who wants to attend the programme. "The programme came out of our desire to be pro-active, to take care of all our students, especially those who hail from different backgrounds. The entire academic community at the institute felt that a section of the students need to be better prepared and confident for their stint at the institute." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IIT-Delhi-rolls-out-etiquette-lessons-for-SC/ST-students/articleshow/9045403.cms It seems once again it is TOI who is culprit of sensationalizing an otherwise nobel initiative. refer post#16.
The Outsider Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Makes the mind boggle as to what kind of retards are in charge of such decision making.
Sachinism Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Are we gonna have a oxbridge in India now with snooty toffs?
ganeshran Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Rather than target a particular caste- they should have arranged for a course and let students who feel its need enroll for it
EnterTheVoid Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Shwetabh, what's wrong with teaching the rural kids some etiquette lessons so they don't feel like fish out of water when trying to adjust to city life? From what I understand, they are just trying to instill some confidence and self esteem.
The Outsider Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Shwetabh, what's wrong with teaching the rural kids some etiquette lessons so they don't feel like fish out of water when trying to adjust to city life? From what I understand, they are just trying to instill some confidence and self esteem. Where does it say that they are teaching rural kids?
punjabi_khota Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 I have a feeling this could be illegal, apart from being in bad taste.
akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 I have a feeling this could be illegal' date=' apart from being in bad taste.[/quote'] So should be reservation in the first place. I can understand the intentions behind such a course, but as @Ganesh said - it should not be on SC/ST basis - rather a general elective for anyone who is interested (economic/rural background). Btw, earlier there used to be some mandatory 'english' course for entrants who did not score good marks in XIIth English. I hope this is not the case of bad reporting on media's behalf of some such thing. Here are some comments copied from TOI comments: Disclaimer - I do not necessarily subscribe/oppose to all of them. Just that I found them 'fair/funny enough'. a) They were admitted to the institute not like others but via reservation which in itself is discriminatory. Nobody complained when these students are being given special treatment by allowing entry into the institute. Why all this noise now? All the institute is now doing is trying to help them just like how it helped them gain entry into the institute. b) It would have been better to give guidelines of the institution to all students. Further, etiquette should be given to those clever and manipulative ones.. c)students who is entering into the IIT are not real sc\st..they all are from elite group of sc\ct..i don think there is a need of training for them. [not entirely correct, but applies to majority of reserved entrants] d) The Self enriching programme are not bad but TOI has wrongly termed it as Etiquette lessons. Lets face it, that a large chunk of SC/ST students who got admiited thru reservation do face problems in creating their mark in not only IITs but other Engg/Medical colleges. But , this is equally applicable to the General category students also. Not every meritorious student is equally confident. As I, Ganesh, Sree said - such course should be general elective or even some mandatory-101 for all. You can always trust TOI to twist the truth e)all of IIT/ engineering students should be given these lessons. In the US and Europe, young graduates make aweful impression with their mannerism, hygiene, etc. In fact some of the real pig behavior comes from pure brahmin and rajputs. So, this is a good idea for ALL students. He seems to have a point, but I found it rather funny.
akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 Shwetabh, what's wrong with teaching the rural kids some etiquette lessons so they don't feel like fish out of water when trying to adjust to city life? From what I understand, they are just trying to instill some confidence and self esteem. Instill the same self-esteem that they distilled out by allowing them via reservation? :winky: I am not against such course. It should be general elective or even mandatory for all. However, I doubt how a couple of week's course can change many years of development. It should be supplemented with providing on-campus counseling for whole duration of college stay - and such course can aid in identifying the students who really need counseling - which as of now is just on basis of low grades at the end of year/semester.
anotherhawkeye Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 It's discriminatory ? Are you kidding ? They got special treatment in admissions because of their perceived backwardness. Why shouldnt they get these lessons? If they think they are on par with others, they should come in the general quota. That will be fair.
The Outsider Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 It's discriminatory ? Are you kidding ? They got special treatment in admissions because of their perceived backwardness. Why shouldnt they get these lessons? If they think they are on par with others' date=' they should come in the general quota. That will be fair.[/quote'] There are already a lot of caste over and undertones in IITs - not only IITs, but practically every higher education institute or university in India. I don't agree with caste based reservations, but once a student has been admitted it is the responsibility of the institute to cull down any avenue which can lead to discrimination rather than to actively promote it. These kind of actions do nothing but worsen an already bad situation.
akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 Btw - reservation (to represent certain population) is not bad concept, its implementation and execution in India is very poor. If you see, in US universities also they have sort of reservations based on demography and various other factors. Anyway, lets stay on the topic.
akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 It's discriminatory ? Are you kidding ? They got special treatment in admissions because of their perceived backwardness. Why shouldnt they get these lessons? If they think they are on par with others' date=' they should come in the general quota. That will be fair.[/quote'] The problem is not in floating such a course. The problem is using caste to generalize in identifying education / training gaps - that such course is supposed to fill. I will repeat again - there should be such a course, but as an elective or mandatory to all (to identify who people might need even more counselling).
anotherhawkeye Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Totally agree that our reservation is messed up. Tamil nadu had like 70 % reservation or somethin. It's crazy.
Sachin=GOD Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Shwetabh' date=' what's wrong with teaching the [b']rural kids some etiquette lessons so they don't feel like fish out of water when trying to adjust to city life? From what I understand, they are just trying to instill some confidence and self esteem. Its not the rural kids. Its only for the SC/STs and that is wrong.
akshayxyz Posted June 30, 2011 Author Posted June 30, 2011 So - it seems once again it is TOI who is culprit of sensationalizing an otherwise nobel initiative. http://jee.iitd.ac.in/crest.php JEE selected students who are planning to join IIT Delhi are encouraged to register for the special "Self Enrichment Programme" starting on 9th July, 2011. This is a eight day programme conducted by CREST (Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation, Calicut) and IIT Delhi with the objective of improving communication skills, better time management, public expression as well as building self confidence. Programme was offered for the first time last year and assessment at the end of the academic year of students who went through the programme showed that they have benefited from the programme. The interested students should register before 4th July, 2011at the following website: http://jee.iitd.ac.in/crestreg.php The programme is open for limited registration for up to 200 students and preference will be given to SC/ST and other students from economically weaker background. The students who are selected for the programme will be notified at this site on July 5, 2011. Other students who either fail to register in time or are not selected in the first list can physically come and check for vacancy position on 9th July, 2011 at 9.30 A.M. in the UG Section at IIT Delhi. :finger: Times of India.
Prakat Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 "open for registration." Not exactly a pre-incarceration lice bath that the TOI was making it out to be.
urbestfriend Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Get ready to watch the d!ckhead Arnab Goswami spewing nonsense about this issue at 9 PM news , he wouldn't even allow anyone who is against him to speak :finger:
The Outsider Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Thank heavens it's been years since I stopped reading that piece of sh!t website and giving it hits.
mishra Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 Indian media and its exclusiveness....... :facepalm:
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