Date:09/02/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/02/09/stories/2007020919490400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

``Higher education stunts analytic thinking''

Staff Reporter

Convention discusses current issues

CHENNAI : Higher education is disabling critical and analytic thinking in students, said speakers at a discussion of `Women's Education and Development' at Ethiraj College here on Thursday. The panel discussion was part of the national convention on `Contemporary Issues in Higher Education' that concludes Friday.

L.S. Ganesh, professor, IIT Madras, moderated the discussion and urged students to follow Article 51(A)(j) of the Constitution that lists `excellence in individual and collective activity' as a Fundamental Duty.

Qudsia Gandhi, Special Commissioner and Commissioner of Treasuries and Accounts, Government of Tamil Nadu, said that women were increasingly to be found in non-conventional fields. Some women were being drawn to call centres immediately after completing schooling, she noted and warned that such jobs entailed psycho-emotional stress.

Vasanthi Devi, former chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women, said that education had been drained of societal and cultural content. B. Regina Papa, former director and head, Department of Women's Studies, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, said that curriculum rarely included gender studies.

Gnani, freelancer and journalist, said that higher education tended to promote the agenda of the male-dominant society and family.