Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Education in England

Education is compulsory for all children aged between 5-16 years. ‘Every child matters’ is the slogan on which their compulsory education stands. 94% of children avail free education from State schools. Independent schools cater to the needs of those who can afford to pay for it. The government is proposing to increase compulsory education up to the age of 18 years. After the compulsory education two more years of sixth form study makes the students eligible for University education leading to the graduate study of 3 years and post graduate study of 2 years and doctorate study of 3 years. Specialist courses in Education, Law, Medicine and Business Management also are available and will be on fees payable basis.
Some of the world’s best institutions like the Oxford University, Cambridge University, Imperial College, London school of economics, King’s college, University of London, University of Edinburgh, St. Andrew’s university are among the 250 universities and university level institutions make education available to those who want it across the globe.
Dropping out of schools is viewed seriously and parents of the students are liable to pay heavy penalties. Bullying in schools is a challenge to the authorities responsible for implementing the compulsory education. Social behaviour is a subject on which they are laying great stress now as the anti-social cycle is causing problems like bullied children, frightened neighbourhoods, repressed communities and victims of criminality.
Proper parenting of the children goes a long way in setting the right course for imparting education to the children. Home is the first school and parents are the first teachers to the children. It is imperative to realise that child-adult- parent-family cycle built, grown and maintained with the best ideology will be the best tribute to any society. Any society as it exists now is a combination of good and evil co-existing. All societies want to eliminate the evil and increase the good as much as possible. Here the welfare of the society covers individual welfare. Though a welfare society can not be created with an act of parliament, it can be inculcated and introduced into the ethos of the society with the help of social groups taking ample support from the government of the land. If we are clear about the cost we are paying because of an unruly member in the society, it can easily be assimilated to enable us to invest more in the inculcation of good practices in our children. With the help of a good number social groups consisting of retired/ aged/ interested members, programmes can be arranged for public participation and enlighten them about the need to fight selfishness amongst us and teach such qualities to their children. Some subjects teaching that all members in God’s creation merit equal treatment with regard to distribution of wealth and facilities in the society create the right basic frame work on which a healthy welfare super structure where all can live peacefully can be built.
The best behaviour of the parents as individuals and as couple begins to give rise to the best seeding. Post- natal care involves hygienic upbringing, creation of happy environment in the house. As the child grows the parents have to ensure giving the right kind of love in right dimension- as more show of love may pamper the child. The child has to be told stories involving our heroes of men and women. That will be the foundation for the understanding of correct inter-personal values and establishment of relations in the child’s mind. The root cause for most of the ills is selfishness. The moment a person understands that he has to share the bounty of the earth with several of his brothers and sisters living along with him, there is no problem at all.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

English Society

For a person of my background coming as I do from India, the English Society seems to be established on strong foundations. The society has definitely learnt a lot from its history of conquests and world wars and utilized it in building a robust foundation for the modern society it now lives in . The process of learning seems to have paralleled the vagaries of war, be it with the French, Spanish or the Dutch.

The need for proper education must have been strongly felt around that time. The first Public school was started in Winchester as far back as in 1382, the school in Eton in 1440 and in Harrow in 1571. This period coincides with ‘The Renaissance’ which swept the European continent from the 14th to the 17th centuries. England’s political status also underwent a change during the later half of the 17th century from monarchy to the present parliamentary system. Parliamentary democracy entrenched strongly on robust foundations by the first half of the 18th century giving the country the distinction of being referred to as the ‘mother of parliaments’. The price paid for by Oliver Cromwell and others did pay great dividends. My idea in tracing this part of history is to emphasize the intense exchange of ideas that has taken place during that period among the intellectually as well as physically powerful (armed) groups of the countries. One of the offshoots of this exchange was the realisation that education is absolutely necessary for acquiring, assimilating and spreading knowledge to the people, for their economic development.

The early 18th century saw the growth of the presently world- renowned educational institutions, which helped people by providing them with keys to open the hitherto closed doors of the universe in search of solutions. The Industrial revolution happened. As destiny would have it, technological inventions like steam engine, development of machinery etc., almoost replaced manual labour and heralded an era of automation in the manufacture and transport industry.

The result was the fantastic development seen in most of the western world including England. England’s transformation from kingdom to constitutional monarchy with parliamentary democracy resulted after a lot of turbulent struggles and is a testimony to the spread of knowledge obtained through an educated populace which constantly kept questioning the rulers on their self- serving claims of ‘born to rule’.

As I watch their parliamentary sessions being broad cast live on TV channels; I can not but praise the MPs of the ruling and opposition parties and ministers for the sincerity of purpose, mutual respect and commonness of cause displayed in their discussions in the houses of commons and lords. They do not display one- up- man ship by suggesting unwieldy alternatives if any sensible proposals are made by either an opposition or a ruling party MP during the course of a discussion. Above all, they really care for the public to whom they owe their positions by not deliberately disrupting the proceedings in the houses.

These practices are worthy of emulation in India. The Indian legislators are an antithesis to their counterparts in England. With the exception of a few stalwarts including the present and previous prime ministers of India and a woeful minority, others have neither a vision for the nation nor a patriotic love for their constituencies. Their only interest is in perpetuating their position as a means to grab a major chunk of the cake.

Friday, June 8, 2007

English Conservatism

The British are a conservative society steeped in tradition. Pubs are an interesting component of common British tradition. These old traditional pubs cater to a class of customers who frequent them for a drink and the company they get there. The gossip in such places is as enjoyable as their drink.

The architecture of English homes with gabled roofs and its variants seem to be the model to be preserved. Gabled roofs may be having a purpose in draining rain water and also snow during winter. I believe if a new house is to be constructed in a locality it will be allowed only if its architecture complies with the existing houses. Many of the houses are of semi-detached type followed by detached and terraced apartments. The exceptions are only the multi-storeyed modern structures built in market places . Though the roads inside some parts of central London are narrow by modern standards, they are not widened in order to preserve their heritage value intact. To make up for the difficulty in handling the traffic, vehicles are discouraged to enter the central London by charging special entry charges during peak hours.

The English are generally tidy and take care of their personal hygiene, attire and habits. By being so, I feel, they respect the society they move around in. In their speech also they keep up traditional courtesies by thanking and apologising for what we would consider as trivialities. They greet their acquaintances profusely and take time to exchange pleasantries for a while. They do not misbehave and are soft in their speech with others. They seem to be proud of their nationality. While utilising public transport they allow insiders to get down first and then board the bus or train. Even inside the carriage, they conduct themselves well by engaging themselves with a book. If they have to talk, then it is mostly in hushed tones.

Good food is something that is valued a lot here. They maintain and expect etiquettes from others. They normally have a three course lunch consisting of starter, main course and dessert. Main course consists of roast meat with vegetables or a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a piece of fruit.

Social security takes care of all the citizens. Unemployed and destitute people are provided with accommodation and allowance for sustenance. But still some seek alms in public places in an unobtrusive manner- they may pass by your side by saying ‘do you have any change’. Some play music, and not without the routine paraphernalia of instruments, speakers and amplifiers. We get to see quite a bit of these in landing spaces, in stair-ways of tube rail stations. Some may opt to sell some news papers or printed material offered by social- service organisations.

Toilets at public places are neatly maintained and mostly available freely.
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Thursday, June 7, 2007

Road Sense

In India, we have very recently realised the importance of a maintaining a good net work of roads. Roads are required to transport men and material from place to place efficiently. The efficiency with which this can be done is very important to ably compete with others (the rest of the world) in the present days of global trade. National planning requires to be done to transport men and materials from place to place in the least possible time with no loss of men, material and equipment (caused by accidents).

UK has an elaborate road network. Having an elaborate road network is a sign of its developed status among nations. The roads here are broadly classified as ‘Motor’ and ‘Arterial’ as I see them. Motor roads have not less than six-lane roads- three on each way with pavements on each side and servicing facilities at intervals of every 20-25 miles for the convenience of passengers. Roads with less than three lanes on each side are called arterial roads.
Amongst a population of 60 million, to say that 75% of them regularly use cars for conveyance would be a safe assumption. People using two-wheelers are a rare minority and we do not see people moving by walk except in the shopping areas of satellite townships and city centres. For this traffic to run on the roads smoothly and without any accidents, a sense of discipline is very much necessary. Discipline is easily enforced if the necessary infrastructure exists. By that I mean a net work of interconnecting roads, flyovers at convenient distances , a good system of traffic and road signals, penalising accessories to check over-speeding and rule-breakers and elaborate parking places in all required places. UK has all these things and all these facilities are meticulously used by the people to derive the maximum benefit.

Parking facilities occupy a lot of place and in some locations they are built in several storeys also. Needless to say that Parking charges are quite steep. The British are inveterate foot-ball addicts and so all matches are arranged on the weekly off days of Saturdays and Sundays. People here are fond of going on weekly outings considerably far away from their cities/ towns. Hence, week- ends, i.e., Friday evenings are traffic hazard times for the people. Vehicular traffic on all roads is at its peak with vehicles moving in all directions resulting in a lot of traffic snarls. Even in such circumstances, the sense of discipline shown by them is worth emulating. Nobody tries to jump their lines and signals are obeyed lest they attract a penalty for unruly behaviour. Movement of emergency vehicles such as ambulances and security vehicles are given preference generally and even during such snarls. We do not see any policing with lathi- wielding policeman growling against the rule-breakers but they are omnipresent with their special vehicles sniffing trouble almost instantaneously to nab the violators. The spirit shown by vehicle drivers towards ignorant pedestrians (who may be crossing the road without proper signal) is also an indication of their heightened civic sense as they vehicles almost always stop and allow pedestrians to walk across safely.

Telephones are provided at intervals to enable vehicle owners to call for maintenance service. Vehicles which can not be repaired by the road-side are towed to avoid congestion on the roads . Service centres provided at regular intervals of distance are very helpful in enabling the passengers to attend nature's calls. Vehicle drivers/ passengers avail facilities to refresh themselves by playing some games and relax at these centres before moving ahead. Speed limits exist on arterial roads and excess speed is recorded by cameras fixed at vantage points. Large distances are covered in relatively short times as the vehicles move at speeds ranging from 90 to 120 kmph.
The road accident rate is very less and those that occur are largely due to drunken driving.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Clean England, Green England

The weather in UK is different- naturally so for us who come from a tropical region .The people in UK seem to be very eco-friendly.There is a lot of greenery around. The local and highway roads have different kinds of floral and fruit bearing trees lining the pavement. The trees here are colored differently by their flowers. Only after seeing some of the colors of the flowers here, we are reminded of what we normally refer in our part of the world as 'English colors'. They are thrilling and refreshing.

People here do not disturb nature at all- meaning, they do not tamper with it, by plucking the flowers and fruits from the trees which are grown in public places. I am told the fruits are mostly feed for the birds and fall down after they are ripe enough. What a wonderful behavioral trait these people have acquired with their development. We do not normally see bare earth on the payments or in the area left unutilised. Such patches are normally covered with a velvety green turf of grass. The grass on the pavements also is mowed to a minimum height periodically without fail by the council/ public authorities.

Household waste disposal is taken care with an elaborate system. Waste is classified as kitchen waste, plastic and paper waste and green waste . Every household is provided with three containers for collecting the above three kinds of waste once in a week.These containers, in separate colors, are placed outside the house.Kitchen waste from daily use in the kitchen is filled in small pvc carrybags and placed in covered containers. All plastic and paper waste coming as milk containers, tooth paste tube shells, other consumables are filled in another and garden waste such as clippings from home grown plants and mowed grass from the lawn etc are placed in the third. All the containers are placed outside the house for emptying by the council staff into their trucks which come on a given date to collect them separately. Residents having extra garbage can go and drop them at stipulated garbage dumps. Plastic and paper wastes are processed for recycling and other wastes may go for land filling and making manure.Containers are generally placed in public places ensuring clean surroundings. In places where litter like cigarette butts and pieces of paper are thrown around as on streets or malls, a person is positioned to collect them. You should see the way he does it. A long pair of tongs is the closest that he gets to the rubbish. No handling , and no bending.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

English Days

Our ‘English days’ started on the 7th April 2007 when we set out to enjoy the company of our eldest son and his family staying in London. We have our origins in a rural background in the north coast of Andhra Pradesh in India. Our lives started in a freshly post independent India trying to develop its resources to provide self sufficiency to its people and climb up the ladder of modern development to catch up with the rest of the world. India, with its colonial relation with England, had inherited a bundle of advantages and disadvantages from it. We can count the English language, without doubt as an advantage as it is a key to a large portion of the scientific and technical knowledge that is accumulated in various parts of the world. This is not to say that knowledge is privy to english. With Sanskrit as the mother of all Indian languages, we are heirs to a large knowledge base which is ancient and probably older than that available in English. The ancient knowledge scripted in Sanskrit, covers scientific and technical fields and forms a unique cultural base.

Though we are broadly aware of the culture of the English, the trip to England offered us an opportunity to observe their ways of living from close quarters. For us the study started even while we were airborne from Dubai. As we were travelling by Emirates Airlines, we changed aircraft at Dubai. A passenger sitting by our side was a British foot-ball coach who was returning back after watching a match at Dubai. For the entire journey he was glued either to his magazines or his cell phone. He did not even so much as look at us or engage in any conversation. The information regarding him was given by him on my soliciting only. I notice that these people normally do not disturb nor want to be disturbed and would very much value their privacy. A good quality indeed, in contrast to us, with many of us indulging in unnecessary gossip , probably with the only good intention of improving our general knowledge.

The second experience is at the immigration check counter. We were asked to wait for our turn about at least six to ten feet away from the counter while a transaction was in progress. Later on, we were to learn that people keep some distance between themselves while waiting for their turn to transact at a counter. This is to avoid physical contact between persons waiting in the queue. We do not see anybody trying to break the queue on a plea that they have to go else where urgently. We also see that extra counters are immediately activated if there is more crowd in the queue. This society uses discipline as a tool for equitable distribution of benefits to its members.