UK puts Asian languages on par with European languages

   Asian languages such as Arabic, Bengali, Japanese, Mandarin, Panjabi, Turkish, and Urdu should be given more importance in British schools, the Office for Standards in Education, Ofsted, has ruled in its latest report, ‘Every language matters’.
   The Ofsted finding says these Asian languages should be at least co-equal with European languages such as French and German.
   The report also concludes that more British teachers should be given an opportunity to obtain a postgraduate teaching qualification (PGCE) for what it describes as community or heritage Asian languages.
  ‘The quality of teaching by those who had a PGCE in community languages was consistently good. This contrasts with the more variable quality of teaching of community languages generally. In addition, senior staff in schools say community language teachers with a PGCE qualification have better information technology skills, teaching methods, ability to assess pupils’ progress and manage behaviour more effectively than those without the qualification.’
   Last year a British government report stressed the importance of teaching languages from India and China as both countries continue to grow in economic importance.
   The Ofsted report calls for more investment in resources and materials in schools to help in teaching Asian community languages. It suggests the Department for Children, Schools and Families should provide a wider range of national web-based resources for such languages. Ofsted also recommends that training institutions ensure they are better informed about which languages are taught in which schools  so they can identify schools they can work with to train languages teachers.

For Nepal, Big Brother is scapegoat

For many countries, a metaphorical whipping-boy solves their problems in the short term. For Nepal, India is one as Nepal edges towards elections planned for 10 April.
Mainstream political parties, communists, and the sidelined supporters of the monarchy have all been alluding to India’s alleged role in the country’s political process. Visiting Indian politician Digvijaya Singh’s statement that Delhi favours neither the monarchy nor any particular political grouping does not seem to have made any difference.
The immediate issue at stake is the militant posture adopted by a coalition of three parties, based in the southern Terai region bordering India’s states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. They have advanced six political demands, including ‘autonomy with right to self-determination’ as the price for lifting a blockade that disrupted power supply to the capital city of Kathmandu.
Their demands were rejected by interim Prime Minister B.P. Koirala, who added that the problems created in Terai could be resolved ‘in a minute’ if India offered sincere cooperation. He went on to tell a high-level meeting of his Nepali Congress party, ‘I have told India and the UN that I will not compromise on sovereignty and integrity.’
King Gyanendra has also weighed in with Koirala by telling his countrymen on Democracy Day that they should pay attention to safeguard Nepal’s integrity, independence and nationalism.
Gyanendra’s supporters not very subtly cite the example of Sikkim, which first got rid of its king, then had elections in which merger with India was approved. Implying, of course, that Nepal is next in line.

India emerges as medical BPO destination

   India’s hopes of becoming a medical treatment destination for patients from wealthy western countries, especially Britain, has moved a step closer to fulfilment following the visit to London of health minister Anbumani Ramadoss.
   The good news that Ramadoss relayed to his audience of Indian-origin doctors (British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, BAPIO) was the positive response he had received from British health officials about the possibility of National Health Service (NHS) patients being flown to India for treatment.
   Although British officials say no such offer is under consideration, Ramadoss said his optimism was based on informal talks he had with Department of Health Permanent Secretary Hugh Taylor. Britain’s overburdened and perennially underfunded NHS is on the lookout for new and cost-effective ways of securing effective medical treatment for patients.
   Some 600 patients treated in France, Belgium and Germany have had their treatment paid for by the NHS. For some officials and experts, India may be a destination too far. Critics include John Appleby of the health policy think-tank, the King’s Fund.
   Supporters of sending NHS patients to India are led by BAPIO President Dr Ramesh Mehta, who argues that India offers equal, if not better, medical treatment than is available in Britain, and also significantly cheaper. India was the top destination last year for some 70,000 British patients who chose to be treated abroad.
  ‘Patients deserve quick treatment and if they can’t get that in their own country, they should be paid to get it somewhere else’, Dr Mehta has been quoted as saying in the weekly New Statesman. ‘The fact that so many went to India last year shows that patients are telling the NHS what needs to be done.’