Sriparna Chatterjee Predatory publishing is a growing crisis in academia, exploiting researchers and undermining the credibility of scholarly work. It involves unethical and deceptive practices by certain journals, publishers, and conferences that prioritize financial gain over academic quality and integrity. This issue poses a significant threat to academia, leading to a widespread loss of trust […]
L S Shashidhara When do we know we have gained an objective understanding of a phenomenon? Is it based on an individual’s knowledge because that person claims to have followed an unbiased approach, or when the majority come to the same understanding or all of humanity conclude the same? None of these will help us […]
TV Venkateswaran With the rise of the knowledge economy and the need for a learning society, highly qualified human capital is essential, necessitating the advancement of higher education, science, and technology. As pointed out in the NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index-2021 report, numerous studies have shown a positive association between per capita R&D expenditure and […]
An appreciation of evolution enriches the mind. To delete it from the syllabus is as foolish as not teaching a language, or poetry, or history. Being exposed to evolutionary thinking should be considered an essential element of human culture, on a par with being told about the planets, stars and galaxies and where they come from.
The concept of evolution is something that all citizens should be aware of because it speaks directly to who we are, as humans, and our position within the living world. So, the concern is not so much that “evolution is removed” from curricula, inasmuch as students taking biology in Std XI-XII will get exposure to evolutionary biology. The concern specifically is that, other than basics of how the human body functions, evolution is perhaps the most important part of biology that all educated citizens should be aware of and, therefore, it should remain in the Std X curriculum which all students study before they choose different specializations in Std XI.
“Only when you do a PhD, you get paid for doing something you enjoy doing and you also get a degree at the end.” This is the philosophy with which I work, trying to give each student the time they need, helping them to work at their own pace. I am happy to work overnight to comment on a manuscript from a workaholic student, to allow the highly self-critical and thorough student to take months for one analysis, to discuss science and gossip with a student who is like family, to be a little formal with a student who likes to keep a distance or to wake up in the middle of the night to receive a call from student who is going through a panic attack. After all, it takes all kinds of flavours to make a dish savoury!
This is a collaborative writing endeavour by a group of students and the teacher of the Sociology of Gender course (2021), department of Sociology, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. The student authors are listed alphabetically, followed at the end by the teacher.
It is more important to ask “why and how” rather than being content with “what”. But, unfortunately, we Indians are generally obsessed with “what”. The challenge of a teacher/mentor is to ignite bright minds; to stimulate them. A mentor must be kind, considerate, observant, thoughtful, and after all, enthusiastically responsive.
Science in general and mathematics in particular is for creative thinkers. One must give total freedom to researchers to choose his or her area of research. Science, including mathematics, has always produced and will continue to produce useful work if the creative thinkers are given complete freedom.
The social worlds of mentor and mentee structure the power via so-called modernized educational institutions. The traditional knowledge system was also based on the power and hierarchy of caste. Though public educational institutions are valorized for its power to overcome caste-based conflict and education (Beteille 2006:174), the contradicting forms of powers related to caste and education function in two ways.
