Editor,
Two articles in your esteemed daily by Toki Blah and Barnes Mawrie
are eye openers about the pollution of rivers in Meghalaya especially about the pathetic condition of two rivers – Wah Umkhrah and Wah Umshyrpi which have lost their glory and are now actually on the verge of ‘dying.’ And now lo and behold! Wah Umiam is also crying and in pain because of human greed and recklessness and because of the poor maintenance of waste generated from the View Point at Mawiong. Now with the ever flowing waste from Wah Umkhrah one wonders what will happen to Umiam. The Facebook post titled, “PLASTIC TSUNAMI HITS UMIAM LAKE – SHILLONG POST”, is a very strong reminder about the deleterious effects of plastic waste. The irony is that we call ourselves a civilized society with no civic sense. So we throw plastic anywhere we want and forget that there is no other planet that we live in but mother Earth! It is high time that we do our share and join hands in reviving nature so that the future generations can still achieve the bliss that we enjoyed in this beautiful place called ‘home.’
Yours etc.,
Christine Nongbet,
Via email
MBOSE must revisit its Science curriculum
Editor,
The editorial “Education Minister on a learning curve”, (ST July 25, 2019) which revealed the Education Minister’s interest to experience a Happiness class session and interact with students of Sarvada Bal Vidyalaya Government School, Delhi made for delightful reading. At the same time the article “Fear and happiness are incongruous” (ST July 26, 2019)by Patricia Mukhim does send a message loud and clear about the need to remove fear from among students of all schools. Let us not forget that it is the fear psychosis of influx of scientists’ and influx of bureaucrats that had made us lose the golden opportunity to establish the Central Agricultural University (CAU) in Meghalaya. The first line of para 2 of the previous editorial is very true, in which over ambitious parents overleap their expectation from their children in spite of fully knowing the child’s inability to meet those ambitions. We have many students for whom Mathematics is Greek to them. During our time, those ‘strong’ in Maths were separated from the weak ones right from class VII. Class VI was the last class to scare the weak. Boys took typewriting and girls Domestic Science and those days there was no dearth of jobs in both the subjects. Now we are blessed with umpteen professional courses which would help our students earn a living. We should know that Steve Jobs, who had made us happy with smart phones, was not a scientist.
One very critical aspect is the generous 20% internal assessments that have sent a wrong signal to parents and children. They venture into class XI Science and in one month three tutors are sought for, and after one year, the students switch over to Arts. The curriculum for Classes XI and XII is vast. For MBOSE, compounded with gross errors, it simply becomes problematic. This is for Physics on which I can have a say. CBSE texts of three books cover almost three times the topics covered by MBOSE, besides down to earth explanations and diagrams to help students grasp the meaning. It is also true that teachers need refresher courses aided by HOD’s of colleges of respective subjects to be able to create interest and sound understanding of science subjects. One reason why the CBSE students perform very well in J.E.E., NEET is because of the texts they follow. And if all over India, CBSE texts prescribed by NCERT are followed, there is no reason whatsoever to do differently here, for our students would suffer at the all India level.
Yours etc.,
Ex-H.O.D,
Electronics Dept.
St Edmund’s College
Times to give up reservations
Editor,
Whenever the central or state government advertises on various vacancies there are different sets of categories and in those categories there are sub-categories enveloped inside this scheme of things. It is time that this system of reservation be stopped or minimised for only those with physical disabilities who are competent and capable to take up the job. The more we tend to have the “reservation” mentality the less is our ability of being one step ahead. Reservation takes away the spirit of universal competition, which is why as a nation we cannot compete with a country like China. I wonder if other countries have this kind of appeasement policy. This is what destroys the mindsets of the youth and tends to make people crave for political support which also results in corruption. Time to rethink whether or not we still need to hold on to reservations.
Yours etc..
Dominic S. Wankhar
Shillong- 3
Mockery of strong battling line-up
Editor,
The BCCI and the media in the recent past have been found to be confident in their statements that the Indian cricket team has a strong batting line-up. Of course the Indian team has proved how ‘strong’ they are. One cannot forget that they were about to be defeated in the hands of Afghanistan which entered the world cricket very recently. Secondly, the Indians were about to lose to Bangladesh too. They lost miserably to England and were no match for New Zealand. The cricket lovers of India may remember that the Indian cricket took a re-birth and was pulled out of slush by none other than Vijay Merchant when he was the Chairman of the selection committee way back in 1969-70 when Ajit Wadekar was preferred to MAK Pataudi as the captain. It brought a sea change in Indian cricket. Since then Indian cricket started to taste the joy of winning test matches both at home and abroad. Now again grimy politics has entered and as a proof players like Ajinkye Rahane, Ambati Rayudu, who resigned from the game out of frustration, and many other promising cricketers have been ignored. It is time that Ravi Shastri should feel the pulse of the general masses and gracefully approach the BCCI to relieve him of the post. In the same way the current selection committee members should also resign. To salvage Indian cricket the new selection committee members should be men of integrity and truth. They should keep out of politics and personal preferences. Only this will save the game from the misfortune that seems imminent.
Yours etc.,
Bibhash Dhar,
Via email