by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World
Addis Ababa : The Al Maktoum Foundation has officially opened two schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which will offer educational opportunities for students from poor and middle-class families.
The schools were opened under the patronage of Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the presence of a delegation headed by member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees Mirza Al Sayegh.
The Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid School in the Ayat district has a 405 student capacity and spans grades five to nine. It includes a computer lab that accommodates 40 students as well as a chemistry lab. The schools’ employees will be paid by the Foundation.
Meanwhile, the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum School in Nifas Silk boasts 12 classrooms and accommodates 513 students in grades five to nine.
School principal Jerma Nagors expressed his appreciation for the opening of the school which, he said, will offer many local children the opportunity to learn.
At the 2007 World Economic Forum in Jordan, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced his plans to give $10 billion, one of the largest charitable donations in history, to set up the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. He stated that the money is meant to bridge the knowledge gap between the Arab region and the developed world, improve the standard of education and research in the region, develop leadership programs for youth, and stimulate job creation.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Employment, News, Politics
New Delhi : Opposition parties and political leaders on Monday sought to dismiss as “election gimmick” the Narendra Modi governments move to give 10 percent reservation for economically backward people in the general category, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
The Union Cabinet on the day approved 10 percent quota for people belonging to “unreserved categories”, including Christians and Muslims, in jobs and education with an annual income limit of Rs 8 lakh.
Questioning the legality of the move vis-a-vis the Supreme Court putting a cap of 50 per cent on reservations, the Congress called it an “election gimmick”.
“Did you (government) not think of this for 4 years and 8 months? So, obviously thought of as an election gimmick 3 months before the model code. You know you cannot exceed 50 per cent cap, so it is done only to posture that you tried an unconstitutional thing,” Congress MP Abhishek Manu Singhvi said.
“Forward reservation is a gimmick to fool people, the 50 per cent cap continues to be law,” he said citing the M R Balaji case in which the Supreme Court put a 50 per cent cap on reservations.
“Government only misleading nation. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan tried exceeding 50 per cent quota but was struck down by court. Modi, BJP clearly think Indian public eats grass,” said Singhvi adding that the move was a sign of the Modi’s “fear and certainty of losing 2019 elections”.
Communist Party of India’s (CPI) D Raja said the move indicated the ruling BJP’s desperation.
“What exactly they (government) have decided we don’t know. How they have defined ‘backwardness’ we don’t know. Already the Supreme Court has put a cap on reservation at 50 per cent. That has not been challenged by the Central government, which means the cap remains.
“So in this case, what Supreme Court is going to do we don’t know. There are many questions which need to be answered. They have to come before Parliament. The BJP is desperate, it is panicking and rattled. It wants to do certain things for fear of losing vote base,” said Raja.
Supreme Court advocate and nominated Rajya Sabha member K.T.S. Tulsi said: “This looks like an attempt in the direction of abolishing the entire reservation system.”
Speaking in a similar vein, former Union Finance Minister Yahswant Sinha dubbed the move as “jumla” (fake promise).
Sinha questioned the government’s intent citing legal complexities and paucity of time as the current session of Parliament is scheduled to end on Tuesday.
“The proposal to give 10 per cent reservation to economically weaker upper castes is nothing more than a jumla. It is bristling with legal complications and there is no time for getting it passed through both Houses of Parliament. Government stands completely exposed,” he said.
However, BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla, said the move was not aimed at placating the upper caste.
“This is not an attempt to placate the upper castes. We are trying to give them their right. We are not doing a favour to them. It is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s motto of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas’.
“Those who do not want to get this bill passed in Parliament may go ahead. We will try to get this bill passed,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Investing, Opinions
By Amit Kapoor,
Given the limited fiscal space to increase the expenditure on social services, such as education and health, it is essential for the governments of developing countries like India to enhance their public spending efficiency by generating the maximum potential benefit for its population within the given budgetary resources.
With India spending about 2.7 per cent of its GDP on education (Budget Estimates for 2017-18), small changes in the efficiency of public spending can result in better education outcomes and income of the country.
Cross-country comparison of efficiencies of public spending in Asia shows that while countries such as South Korea, China and Kazakhstan are the most efficient in terms of education outcomes, the less efficient countries comprise Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, among others.
To evaluate the efficiency of public spending on education, various indicators can be used: For instance, percentage of population enrolled in primary schools, secondary schools and tertiary schools, along with a few quality-based indicators, such as Youth Literacy Rate and the World Economic Forum (WEF) indicators for the quality of the education system.
Looking at the performance of educational outcomes in India vis-à-vis other lower middle-income countries in Asia, it is more efficient in public spending than Bangladesh and Pakistan. However, Sri Lanka benefits from strong enrollment rates and also the quality of its primary education as well as the youth literacy rate.
Bangladesh and Pakistan display insufficient enrollment rates and also poor-quality primary schools. India, on the other hand, has been able to show marked improvements in its enrollment rates, but its Youth Literacy Rate is still below the lower middle-income group’s average.
Further, in terms of the quality of the education system, India was ranked 27th in the WEF Global Human Capital Index, reflecting highly efficient government spending in training students to the skill levels required in a competitive economy.
In fact, the most efficient of the Asian economies, such as China and South Korea, also lag behind India in terms of the overall quality of the education system.
Having said that, China has shown a rapid expansion of educational attainment across its younger generation, which is also reflected in its high government spending efficiency score with regard to the Youth Literacy Rate. Further, China also shows high public spending efficiency with respect to primary and secondary school enrollments.
However, looking at the education completion rates for tertiary education, the performance is very dismal for both China and India, with only 10 per cent and eight per cent of the population holding a tertiary degree. The low education attainment rates at the tertiary education level is also a reflection of low government spending efficiencies in the tertiary education sector in these countries.
High income countries, such as South Korea have invested heavily in education at all levels — primary, secondary and tertiary — which is greater than the OECD average of 6.3 percent of GDP, with higher than average level of funding coming from the private sources. Being a fast-aging country, the high investment in the education sector has resulted in notable educational attainment for its older generations. The country is also at the second position in the Global Human Capital Index on the enrollment rate in tertiary education.
The majority of tertiary education institutes in South Korea are privately owned, with some central regulations, including admission and enrollment policies, which could have scaled up the efficiency of public spending in education in the country.
The regional disparity in the efficiency of government education expenditure across different Asian countries can be explained by a multitude of factors, one of them being the level of government spending. Various studies have been conducted to show that countries where the extent of government spending is greater, the efficiency of the expenditure is less.
Another factor influencing the public spending efficiency is the share of public spending in the provision of the service. The greater is the share of government education expenditure in the total expenditure (public plus private) the lower is the efficiency of the expenditure. This means that increasing the share of private sector activities in the economy will help in reducing inefficiencies of government spending.
In India, the public sector is the main provider of social infrastructure and accounts for more than half of the total investment in both advanced economies and emerging economies in education. Increasing the share of private investment in education in India can improve the productivity of government spending in the sector.
Further, efficiency of the government spending can improve with better institutions, greater transparency and lesser corruption. The World Bank Governance Indicators for 2017 rank India ahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan in the terms of political stability and violence, quality of government services and also extent of corruption, explaining to some extent differences in the efficiency of public spending in these countries.
Developed countries such as South Korea not only invest a greater proportion of their GDP on education but also have good governance, which has led it to efficient government spending in education and better educational outcomes.
(Amit Kapoor is chair, Institute for Competitiveness, India. He can be contacted at amit.kapoor@competitiveness.in and tweets @kautiliya. Deepti Mathur, senior researcher at large, Institute for Competitiveness has contributed to the article)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Neena Sondhi,
A globalised market place, disruptive technological innovations, changing consumption patterns and evolving consumer behavior has led to challenging the existing paradigms.
The premise of education in the current times, especially in the management domain, rests on shifting sands.
Thus, the biggest challenge that B-schools today face is developing learning modules and curriculum that are topical enough to groom the managers of tomorrow.
To address this uncertainty and transformation, the very simple mantra adopted by pro-active B-schools is research. Knowledge dissemination without knowledge creation is no longer conceivable, and hence a structured research strategy is at the helm of most leading B-schools functioning.
However, the dictate of developing contemporary thought and frameworks is not easy. The best of B-schools face constraints which may be in terms of funds or manpower, or both. Further, in case one is examining new phenomena like reverse consumer socialisation (the child mentors the parents/adults about novel practices such as mobile wallets and shopping) or revisiting established paradigms, most B-school may be at a loss to address the complexity of the phenomenon.
However, to tweak an existing cliché – complexity is the mother of invention and innovation. As one examines closely the current management thought that is gaining ground with Academicians and practitioners alike is that collaboration rather than competition is the way forward.
The first level of collaboration that B-schools need to look at is on home-ground, in terms of collaborative efforts across functional domains. The reason for this is that new and altered business scenarios are essentially complex and multi-dimensional.
For example, contextual or content-based marketing models have to be understood from the consumer behavior perspective as well as basic digital marketing strategies. At the same time one cannot ignore the IT interface that is the platform on which this occurs. Thus, to deliver comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon, research needs to be quintessentially cross-functional. This also goes for areas such as management of pricing across aggregated business models.
The other form of collaborative research that B-schools need to undertake is industry-academia interface to comprehend new/altered phenomena. This, in fact, is not a new practice and has been there since the 1900s. Change management practices focused on impact of new strategic business relationships such as alliances, joint ventures, aggregator and outsourced functional models cannot be tabled unless the practitioner and academic partner come together to comprehend the novel phenomenon.
The third level of collaboration is equally critical as this prima-facie is institutional. Each school develops its own research focus and agenda. However, each entity in isolation – both geographically and basis orientation – will be able to conceptualise theories that at best may be restrictive.
Thus, cross-institutional research collaboration is the only approach to deliver generalisable results. For example, to study Technology Adoption Behavior or Talent Management or Entrepreneurship Models; collaborations amongst B-schools across countries or regions will be able to collate information from diverse populations and therefore develop seminal models.
To summarise, the three C’s of collaborative research mantras for B-schools:
* Concentrated or complimentary: Collaboration can be concentrated in a single area and school and contribute seminal thought or be based on allied school and domain collaboration.
* Cultural homogeneity or cultural heterogeneity: Collaboration is needed to assess behavior patterns e.g. Fantasy Sports Gaming that may be culturally uniform versus Investment Patterns that may have a contextual underpinning.
* Conceptual framework or concrete application: Whether the knowledge imperative is to develop conceptual models for disruptive innovation strategies or to work out on-ground multi-channel distribution strategies, the complexity demands that research be carried out in the zone of collaboration to deliver both comprehension and implementation.
Thus, collaborative research is no longer a choice but a directive for B-schools today.
(Neena Sondhi is Head (Research) & Chairperson FPM programes, International Management Institute-Delhi. The views expresssed are personal)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
Remarks
Frank F. Islam On Purposeful Philanthropy for a Purpose-Driven Education For
Sir Syed Global Leadership Award 2108 in Dubai December 2018
Good Evening
Distinguished Guests, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you very much for that kind introduction.
Thank you for your warm welcome and your hospitality.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to Pushkin Agha for inviting me to speak on this special occasion. Let us give him a big round of applause.
Thank you, Prof. Mansoor and Vice President Ansari and other distinguished guests, for joining us this evening. I want to thank the Vice Chancellor Mansoor for his vision of the kind of Aligarh we can build together. He provides the broad shoulder upon which we can stand.
Let me say a few words about Vice President Ansari. I want to thank him for being the guiding light and for helping and advocating to create a unified and just environment where people of different creeds and different faiths can all work together to help shape a better future for India and the world. I admire and respect his strong belief in embracing hope over fears and in building the most diverse, inclusive, and fair vision of India. His firm belief that we cannot be pulled apart and we need to stand together and we need to build bridges and to promote dialogue of understanding and a shared sense of community because we are Indian, bonds that binds us together. Mr. Vice President, we are here to help lighten your load.
It is truly an honor and humbling for me to be here will all of you Aligarh alums this evening. I feel a personal connection with all of you as we are linked by common cause, common goals, common vison and values, and common commitment. I also feel a common bond through shared history, shared heritage, shared background, and shared belief.
It is an honor because I come before you as a son of Aligarh and a brother to each of you. Like you I am part of the Aligarh family tree. I am here this evening because I have stood on the shoulders of giants. These giants have been the faculty, students, and the alumni of Aligarh Muslim University.
I am honored to receive the Sir Syed Global Philanthropist Excellence Award for 2018. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan is my hero. He was one of the greatest leaders in the history of AMU. We have been enriched and empowered by Sir Syed’s educational initiatives.
I accept this award with humility, not for me, but in recognition of all those Aligarh giants, who have made a difference in society through their leadership, education, and public service.
To be given any award named after Sir Syed is special. To be given an award that relates to philanthropy is even more so because it relates directly to the vision that Sir Syed had when he founded Aligarh Muslim University in 1875.
Sir Syed established AMU to provide its graduates with what I call a “purpose-driven education.” At the founding of Aligarh, Sir Syed said,
…from the seeds which we sow today there may spring up a mighty tree whose branches, like those of banyan of the soil shall in their turn strike firm roots into the earth, and themselves send forth new and vigorous saplings; that this College may expand into a University, whose sons shall go forth throughout the length and breadth of the land to preach the gospel of free inquiry, of large-hearted toleration, and of pure morality.
We are convened here in Dubai as the manifestation of and living testimony to the realization of Sir Syed’s vision.
We are seeds from the Aligarh family tree. We have gone around the world. In the process, we have planted new trees and helped make the world a better place.
We were able to do that because our Aligarh education gave us a strong knowledge base. It instilled in us a strong sense of values. It provided us a bridge to the future.
In a phrase, Aligarh gave all of us a “purpose driven education.” We are gathered here at a time when a “purpose-driven” education such as that we received has never been more important.
Over the years, men and women from Aligarh have made significant contributions in all walks of life – educators, politicians, poets, scientists, engineers. Their paths have been different but the common and transcendent bond that has united them has been a belief in and a commitment to equal justice and a shared humanity.
This combination of technical expertise and moral rectitude has enabled the graduates of Aligarh to make their mark in the world and to serve as positive role models for others. One of the ways that we can amplify that mark is through what I call “purposeful philanthropy.”
Let me elaborate on that concept. After that, I will make the connection between purposeful philanthropy and a purpose-driven education.
Philanthropy takes many forms. The philanthropy that is of pivotal importance, in my opinion, is purposeful philanthropy.
Purposeful philanthropy is making investments directed at creating a difference in pivot point areas that matter to the future of society. The returns on those investments are changes to problematic conditions and/or the creation of individuals who will become change agents to address those conditions.
There is a distinction between purposeful philanthropy and charity. The distinction is a critical one.
The focus in charity is to provide a handout. The focus in purposeful philanthropy is to provide a hand-up – to enable and empower people by giving them a helping hand.
There certainly must be charitable support and assistance to address the needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged and natural disasters.
Charity as the sole means of philanthropy, however, has serious limitations. It does not get at the root cause nor change the underlying reason for the need for the charity.
By contrast, purposeful philanthropy concentrates on improving circumstances and conditions. This hand-up approach can take a wide range of forms, ranging from eliminating contaminated water that poisons those who drink or bathe in it; to enhancing the safety of working conditions; to developing the requisite knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and behaviors for a person to be successful in life.
The pivot point areas — areas that can be leveraged and effectively addressed to effectuate change and achieve positive outcomes — for purposeful philanthropy are virtually endless. My personal priority philanthropic areas are education, arts, world peace and civic engagement.
I have chosen those areas because they are important to me and because I know that improvement in them can make a meaningful and substantial difference. Let me tell you a little bit about my investments in education at AMU.
Education is bridge to the future and an opportunity creator. It moves people up the ladder and to help others climb the ladder with them. It is a powerful equalizer for opening doors to lift people out of poverty. It is a gift that keeps on giving and demand that we give back in return.
In the educational arena, I have supported many scholarships at colleges in the United States and India. My wife Debbie and I have provided considerable financial support to build Frank and Debbie Islam Management Complex at AMU and have endowed an Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. We also have provided financial support to build Frank and Debbie Islam Auditorium at AMU Mass Communications Department.
Let me say few words as to why we made investment to AMU. It is because AMU helped to make me who I am and for that I am deeply grateful. It provided me the basic building blocks to become a successful entrepreneur, to assume responsibilities, and to become a passionate leader. I have strong connection and bond to the past and the future of AMU. It shaped my story and determined my destiny. Its principles have always guided me during the time of calm or crisis. What is best in me, I owe it to AMU. I would not be the person I am if it was not Aligarh education. Aligarh students have always been our best hope. My investment is my way of saying Thank you and keeping the hope alive and well.
I have described my four pivot point areas – education, arts, world peace and civic engagement – for purposeful philanthropy for illustration purposes only.
Each of us must choose the area or areas that matter for our philanthropy. The essential thing is to make that choice and to invest.
The size of that investment isn’t what counts. The act of investment does.
Having said that, as I conclude my presentation, I would like to make one request of you. That is for you to consider making one of your purposeful philanthropic investments to support a purpose-driven education. Let me be more specific and ask you to consider making a philanthropic investment in AMU.
As I said earlier, I have provided support and continue to invest in AMU. In February of last year, I went to India to dedicate the Frank and Debbie Islam Management Complex at AMU. At the dedication of that Complex I said, “While the bricks and mortar are important, far more important is what will go on in this setting. It will be a place for sharing of information and imparting and development of knowledge. It will be a place where faculty and students can collaborate on innovative projects. It will be an educational empowerment zone.” I went on to predict, “From this Management Complex will come the future leaders who will make the world a better place.”
In this dedication remarks, I was sharing my perspective on purposeful philanthropy and my absolute and total belief in the role that AMU plays as a leader internationally in providing a purpose driven education.
As you all know, we are living in troubled and turbulent times. We are living in divisive and self-centered times.
Now, more than ever, it is imperative that students receive an education that prepares them to be “servant-leaders”: Leaders who understand that working with others to solve problems and that what one gives back is more important than what one accomplishes individually.
An Aligarh education meets that test and more. You know that. I know that. We know that. And, that is why we need to ensure that as many students as possible can become Aligarians.
In closing, let me leave you with one final thought from Sir Syed. Near the end of his life, he said:
“You have reached a particular stage and remember one thing that when I undertook this task, there were criticism all around against me, life has become so difficult for me that I aged before my age, I lost my hair, my eyesight, but not my vision. My vision never dimmed, and my determination never failed, I built this institution for you and I am sure, you will carry the light of this institution far and wide, darkness will disappear from all around.”
There is still much darkness all around and that is why we, as the seeds of the Aligarh family tree, must continue to deliver on Sir Syed’s vision by keeping Aligarh’s light burning “brightly”.
Thanks for listening to me and for your consideration of my thoughts and request.
It is great to be here with all of you. I look forward to getting to talk with many of you during the course of this wonderful event.
I wish you all the best
God bless you all
