Standards of recruitment and sub-standard textbooks

Last week I had a phone call from Orient Longman (Publishing Company), Chennai, in response to my email seeking a freelance editing position. (I sought a freelance position which would allow me to work from my home so that I can take care of my mother).

The guy asked me to let him know of a convenient date and time on which I could take an editorial test in their Office. I told him that I'd let him know after some time. He replied that he would call me in half an hour's time. But he didn't.

In 2008, I had applied for an editorial position at Oxford University Press, Chennai. I attended their editorial test. After a few days, I was called for an interview at a 5 star hotel in the city. The interviewer was an individual (no panel). This guy who was as old as I am, said that he didn't believe that a good writer could also be a good editor. The result of the interview was obvious: I was not selected. I heard that a young person with no experience in K-12 classroom teaching or curriculum development wasn't selected for reasons known to market (instead of quality) oriented K-12 textbook publishing industry.

Well, one of the main reasons as to why our textbooks are not as good as those developed in the West and countries such as Singapore may be that many of our textbook publishing companies are headed by non-academics.

When I was working in the Chennai regional office of Macmillan India Limited from 1998 to 2002, my regional vice-president (to whom I had to report) was a non-academic with no teaching or curriculum development experience. He had a lot of experience selling FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) other than school and college textbooks. Regional office of Orient Longman situated next door was headed by someone qualified in architecture. (Oddly enough, such a trend exists in many of our K-12 school systems, which are managed by people with no relevant experience in classroom teaching or educational administration).    

Our textbook publishing companies should aim at quality, plan appropriately and recruit right professionals at all levels so that our textbooks can be toned up in quality. Our textbook publishing industry has a lot to learn from Singapore and Western countries, develop stringent standards of recruitment and avert sub-standard textbooks. Otherwise, our textbooks may continue to contain conceptual and linguistic mistakes thereby misleading children (and teachers who don't have adequate time to review and develop their own lessons). 

Koorma Jayanti

Today is an auspicious day for Hindus. Once upon a time, Lord Shree Mahaa Vishnu incarnated as a tortoise on our planet. This day is celebrated as Kurma Jayanthi. `Kurma' means `tortoise' in  Sanskrit. 

Shree Narasimha Jayanthi

Today is a very auspicious day for Hindus worldwide. This is the day on which Shree Mahaa Vishnu incarnated as Shree Narasimha billions of years of back to destroy evil (Hiranyakashipu) and establish good (Prahlaada). This day is celebrated as Narasimha Jayanti.

Traditional New Year's Day

March 31 was an auspicious day for Hindus who speak Marathi, Telugu, Kannada etc. as mother tongue. These people celebrate the day as New Year Day.

Hindus who speak Tamil, Malayalam etc. and those in countries such as Cambodia celebrate 14 April as their New Year Day. Historical evidences abound to prove close cultural ties between people of India and many South East Asian countries. (In fact Angkor Wat and numerous other temples were built when kings from the subcontinent ruled Cambodia). In 2009, I had the pleasure of joining in their 3 days' of festivities in Phnom Penh (which began getting flooded with Cambodians from all over the country as well as tourists from abroad, in mid March itself). I was glad that I was based in Phnom Penh (one of the fastest developing cities in South East Asia). 

Today is a very auspicious day for all Hindus. This was on this day that Shree Mahaa Vishnu was born as Lord Shree Raam during Tretaa Yuga.

   

Hello ladies and gentlemen. As my mother is not well (hospitalized four times in the past one month) I'm not able to spend as much time in writing my posts as I would like. I'm writing this post from the hospital room. However by God's Grace, her medical problems seem to be controllable by medication. As I have to take care my mother, I hope to spend more time (though not as much as I used to previously) after my mother gets discharged from the hospital and by God's Grace, her health condition improves. Thanks once again for visiting my blog.  

Shree Hari, Sun God and Sankraanthi Fest

Today is an auspicious day for Hindus. They celebrate the day as Sankraanthi, Bhigu etc depending upon their region and traditions. Some communities celebrate the day tomorrow. On this day, The Almighty Shree Hari (Shree Mahaa Vishnu) is worshiped in His manifestation as Soorya Naaraayanaa riding a chariot with 7 horses, symbolizing 7 colours of which Sunlight is composed.

An oasis in TV commercial desert

It is a well known fact that many of our TV commercials are noisy, exaggerated and unpleasant to view. But a few remain to stand out from the rest. One such is a commercial from Titan watches. It displays the deep affection that students of a classroom have for their professor. In fact any good teacher who watches the commercial would easily identify with the commercial and shed tears of joy. 

I tried to provide a link to the commercial, but couldn't; I'll try to do it when the commercial is accessible. Hope you tune in to your TV and get an opportunity to view this exceptional commercial (from which I leave 2 screenshots, thanks to my mobile camera).

   

A tribute to Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela passed away yesterday at the age of 95. As South  African president said in his tribute, the country has lost one of its greatest sons. As it happens whenever world renowned statesmen pass away, media is filled with news items, biographical excepts etc. about Mr Mandela. South African Broadcasting Corporation TV channel has come with special coverage about him. Martin Luther King Jr, and Nelson Mandela are well known to have had their inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela and  F W de klerk (South African president prior to Mr Mandela) shared the 1993 Nobel prize for peace.

Sidelined Strategies in Science and Technology

Though I am a very passionate Indian at heart, I have always preferred overseas media to local ones as I think that the former are far more reliable.

This morning, CNN carried a very informative program in its `GOING GREEN' series on how geothermal resources are being used in Iceland. As usual the program was lively with input from professionals from different geothermal energy related areas. What I found most interesting was `classroom' base with students from Kenya, PNG etc.

The program made me wonder as to how amazing Iceland based geysers are used in energy production. I remember having seen geysers as a high school student when we had gone on a school excursion to southern districts of Tamilnadu (India) way back in the mid '60s. It is a disgrace that our governments and NGOs are not using natural resources such as geysers properly. I think that we should learn many things from other countries. For instance as to how the US is replacing nuclear reactors with geothermal and hydroelectric systems and how Botswana uses solar energy in its towns and villages to produce electrical energy. In fact, I and my colleagues had the pleasure of residing in solar battery powered flats inside the campus of a high school where we taught in Botswana.

Our government should rise above the intellectual base of most K-12 parents who aim for their children's `ranks' in Board exams (leaving out every thing else however important it may be) or many of our folks who aim to win `rat races' using any means (however unethical these may be).

Like many like minded people, I just don't see any logic in our Government's spending taxpayers' money in Mars mission. Instead the money should be spent in solving problems that affect common people.     

I tried to provide a link to the program, but couldn't locate it easily in the CNN website, paradoxically! 

Rock Music and Spiritualism

Some of the programs telecast over our Lok Sabha TV Channel are really very good. One such is the `Fairs of India' serial that features cultural festivals in different parts of India.  This evening's program (8 to 8 30 PM IST) featured `Banaras Utsav'. 

The program included a rock concert involving Hindu devotional music, reminding the 1960s when thousands of hippies visited the town seeking spirituality. It was nice to visualize spirituality integrated with rock music (which I guess is a pragmatic means to inspire youngsters into spirituality). I remember how George Harrison of The Beatles got involved in Hindu spiritualism way back in the '60s. The rock show as shown in the program was sponsored by Banares Round Table.

Well, when it comes to Round Table, I cannot forget something interesting that happened many years back: I was teaching Physics in a high school in a town that was 60 km away from Gaborone, Botswana. I used to go to Gaborone every Friday to attend the weekly meetings of Gaborone Round Table of which I was a member. I could always leave for Gaborone early enough to reach the meeting as I didn't have any class to take on Friday afternoons. As I was the only vegetarian there, fellow round-tablers knew my food preferences. Once we had to have our lunch in a South Korean restaurant. One of the menu items was `Ants on the tree'. I told the organizers that I wouldn't eat ants. My concern was communicated to the restaurant owner who told me that the item was simply a vegetarian side dish that included jaggery. This was a great relief from my anxiety.