History of Social Work Education in India

Introduction

Social work  is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality and well being of individuals, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention,  and teaching for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability, and, social injustice  including violations of their civil liberties and human rights Social work profession began to lean heavily on the patterns and institutions developed in the west and specially in the United States. 

professional  education for social work in India began in 1936 when school of social work  was set up in Bombay by the house of Tata, one of the largest private and business enterprises the main inspiration for its establishment came from America, For 11 years between 1936 to 1947, this institute was the only imparting professional  education in social work  In 1946, the second institution was established in Lucknow under auspices of young women Christian association with a substantial grand from its counterpart in USA It was shifted to Delhi and named Delhi school of social work After two years of experimentation, it started a form a two year programmed of social work training in 1949 and was affiliated to as a graduate school to the university of Delhi for the master of arts degree. the institution was eventually merged with the university in 1979 and became one of its departments for a administrative matters under the faculty of social sciences, In 1950another institute was started as a faculty of social work under the university of Baroda somewhat on the general pattern of the American which was accepted earlier at Bombay and Delhi During the next decade 1951-60fourteen more institutions were started  in 1971-80 By the end of 1980thiirty institutions were providing social work education and training at graduate level I t is new reported that the number has gone to fifty or more in the mid -nineties The years between 1970 and 1980 also saw social work educators advocating greater need

for relevance of social work education. Several institutions undertook major review of curricula and development of new courses with more development focus and focus on poverty. However by 1984there was discrepancies and confusion that had seeped into social work that prompted ArmaityDesai to argue strongly that social work needs to move away from too much dependency on provisions and services to organising people to promote change, from institutionalised to non institutionalised

 programmes, from remedial to those that confronts the cause of poverty, from

private concern to public issues, from research with problem focus to one of action oriented research. Social action should not be seen only as a method but as an overriding philosophy behind social work education and practice in India. Social work education in 1986 witnessed the setting up of the curriculum development

centre in TISS. This was followed by another major curriculum review undertaken by theUGC in 1988-1990 where social action; policy and planning and social conflict were stressed. The report of the UGC curriculum development which came out in 1989 for the first time noted the important of caste in social work and the  same got incorporated as a component in social work curriculum under a course titled, “Issues and concerns of social work profession”. As if to amplify

the irony further, M.S.Gore came out with a book titled, “Social Context ofIdeology” which revolved around the ideas of Dr.B.R.Ambedkar.

This movement was furthered by an interesting gathering of social workers around a theme‘Towards People Centred Development’ organised by the TISS that purportedly deliberated on campaign and movements for empowerment of the marginalised. In 1997 the Declaration of Ethics of Professional Social work came out from the TISS published in the Indian Journal of Social work.

By 2003, a National Seminar on Standards for Assessment of Quality in Social Work Education was organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, and  sponsored by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), on November 11-13, 2003. The Seminar aimed at developing minimum and quality standards in social work education, for the NAAC criteria of assessment and

accreditation. Twenty-four resource persons were identified to chair the different sessions and prepare papers on standards for specific criterion or sub-criterion. They were identified from the University Grants Commission (UGC)/ NAAC experts and officials; former members of the UGC Panel for Social Work Education; Presidents of social work professional associations; Heads of

institutions for social work education, accredited by NAAC with Five Stars; select practitioner in charge of field action projects at institutions for social work education; and those who were also social work educators. By 2005 restructuring of the first school of social work began. The new social work programmes were rolled out in 2006 only within the TISS. Post restructuring of the first school of social work in the country, new distinct fields of practiced has emerged in social work education which includes  Dalit  and Tribal Social Work, Women  Centered Social Work and Disability Social Work (bodhi s.r). While restructuring had happened trends has not picked up social work education across the

country, while efforts towards the same is taking place at a rapid pace. There is the formation of a Government backed Network of Social Work Education led by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences

in 2012, which is constituted by one senior representative from every social work institute in the country towards reforming social work courses, revision of curricular and updating the same in tuned with contemporary and future needs.

 Social work education is mainly organized at the masters level because  the American model which it copied was primarily at the graduate level till the end of the sixties Since then institution for ender graduate social work education in America have multiplied but in India less than a dozen institutions offer the bachelors degree in social work even today. Just as in ,social work education originated outside the established university education system in India

In India out of 200 universities which cover about 5000 colleges,  only fifteen universities have separate department of social work, two universities are deemed to be universities and all other social work institutions are affiliated to universities

Major components of social work education

The programme of education has basically three components : class room courses research project and field work .The courses offered are generally divided in to four groups. The first group consist of courses about Indian history, social structure, history and philosophy of social work and social problems; the second group relates to the study of human  growth and development; and the third group includes methods of working with people such as social case work ,social group work community organization and community development ,social welfare administration and social research; and the group is composed of specialized courses

The need for employment of professional social workers in various posts both in the voluntary sector and government arose with the introduction of several national programs of social welfare and  development through five year plans.

The initial stage of social work education, the Scholl of social work which were launched mainly by the non-government organizations were in close touch with practicing agencies in the field.

In the initial stages ,social work methods were primarily used in the field of social welfare over the years, social started working in diverse field, like rural development ,child development, social development etc.

the major emphasis of social work education is to provide training to students to gain employment in remedial and service oriented and voluntary and social work orientation The ideal focus would be to train students towards aggressive social work that is towards social change or reform.

A trend of setting up units for curriculum development in ministries or in university departments internationally come later. India too has a similar history. Two review committee  one in 1960 and another in 1975,were set up by the university grant commission. Commission is a body set up by government of India in 1953 the main function of the commission are promotion and coordination of university education and the determination and maintenance of standards of teaching ,examination and research in universities.

In keeping with international trends of curriculum activities, the university grand commission invited some university departments to carryout curriculum review reforms for various disciplines. A curriculum development centre for this purpose was set up in September 1986 The major task for this curriculum development centre were, (i) the reviewing the existing curriculum,(ii) formulating new curriculum,(iii) suggesting teaching learning resources, iv suggesting ways and means of preparing these and( v) suggesting teacher development programs.

Conclusion

The need for indigenous elements of social work education in terms of its philosophy ,approaches, principles , theories and study materials cannot be over emphasized because working with people, studying social problems and administering social welfare programs call for indigenous orientation and skills. If social work has to move towards professionalism in society has to become effective, it must have indigenous foundations incorporating dominant cultural philosophies, on the one hand, and projected goals which are being promoted on the other.

References

1.Hans Nagpaul,(2005) Social work in urban India,Rawat Publiations,New Delhi .

2Surendra singh,Srivastava S.P,(2003),Social Work Education inIndia:Challenge and Opportunuties,New Royal Book Co.Lucknow.

3.Jacob K.K,(1994) Social Work Education in India,Himanshu Publications,Delhi.

4.Indian journal of Dalit and Tribal Social Work Vol.1,Issue 3 No 1.

History of Psychology in India

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With thanks,
Dolly(Sr. Josiya FCC)
Alvernia Provincial House Chalakudy
Thrissur (Dt), Kerala, INDIA
PIN-680307
phone-09886122675

Growth, Evolution and Contemporary Perspectives of the Science of Economics

Joshy K. J, PhD Scholar, Reg. No. 1341801, Christ University

Economics is a social science that deals with the economic activities of mankind. In other words, it is a social science of human wants and their satisfaction. It is social as it deals with society and human behaviour. It is a science as it qualifies the important features of any scientific disciplines- it contains a systematic body of knowledge; it has numerous laws, models and theories with universal applicability; these laws can be experimented according to real life situations. The origin of the term economics is from a Greek word 'oikonomia', meaning 'household management'. Thus the science of economics is as old as humanity. However the subject matter and coverage has been evolved tremendously through different schools of economic thought. Great economists and thinkers contributed immensely to the growth of the subject into its present form. A school of thought can be understood as a group of people who share common beliefs or opinions or outlook about a particular discipline or philosophy. This essay is an attempt to describe prominent schools of thought in economics that contributed to the development and evolution of economics discipline over a period of several hundred years. Also this essay tries to familiarize the most significant figures pertaining to different schools of thought along with their contributions.

Classical School

It is true to say that the feudal economy rose from the remains of the slave economy of the Roman empire. There were some forerunners of classical political economy. The name of William Petty is very relevant in this context, who has made an important innovation concerning the explanation of value. On the one hand, he completely abandoned the subjective theory of value and on the other he introduced the concept of natural value. It means the prices would tend to adjust to the natural value through small oscillations, though the mechanism of this convergence was not clarified. Another scholar John Locke was influenced by Petty who attempted to justify private property by making use of the labour theory of value. Locke's basic idea was that individual liberty implied the right to control one's own labour. The 18^th century saw important pre conditions for the industrial revolution in the form of the spread of capitalism in the country side, increase in agricultural productivity, technical innovations etc. Classicals believed that money plays only a neutral role in influencing the variables. Changes in money supply affects only the price level, so that only the nominal variables are changed; that is the real variables remain unchanged.

Classical school is the oldest school of economic thinking. Economists like Adam Smith, David Ricardo, J.S.Mill, J.B.Say, Malthus etc have played important roles in this connection. Classical economics focuses on the tendency of markets to move towards equilibrium position. They believed in the full employment equilibrium. It also focuses on objective theories of value.  Adam Smith who is widely considered as the father of modern economics published his famous book, 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of Wealth of Nations' in1776. According to him, it is the division of labour that triggers growth process and capital accumulation that drives it. He was successful in convincing the invisible hand theorem. That is price mechanism is the driving force of the economy. The concept value was explained in the premise of scarcity and cost of production. In connection with this, in the later period, Marxian philosophy focused on the labor theory of value and Karl Marx considered it to be the exploitation of labor by capital. He introduced the term surplus value to explain his labour theory of value. (It is important to note that the Marxian School directly descends from the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which focused on labour theory of value and the exploitation of labour class by the capitalists. Therefore, this school handles the labor theory of value as a method for measuring the degree to which labor is exploited in a capitalist society, rather than simply a method for calculating price).Classical economists believed in the inherent capacity of an economy and they considered that the best way to achieve allocative efficiency is to leave the economy free without any government intervention. This was the basis of the so called laissez faire capitalism which became the foundation of their theoretical frameworks. J.B.Say put forwarded the famous proposition that 'supply creates its own demand'. Classical economists immensely contributed to the fields of economic growth and international trade. In fact the starting point of international trade theories, the concepts of absolute advantage and comparative advantage were given by Adam Smith and David Ricardo respectively.

It is widely recognised that the Classical period lasted until 1870.

Neoclassical School

The neoclassicals followed the footsteps of Classical economists. The prominent economists of neoclassical school of thought are Alfred Marshall, Lionel Robbins, A.C.Pigou, William Jevons, Leon Walras, Clark, Pareto, Mrs.Joan Robinson etc. All of them have contributed immensely to the growth of economics in their own unique ways. Neoclassical economists evolved scientific methods with assumptions and hypotheses and attempted to derive general rules related to the behavior of consumers and firms. According to them the economics agents are rational, consumers try to maximize utility and producers try to maximize profits. Alfred Marshall defined economics as the science of material welfare. According to him wealth is only a means to achieve the ultimate objective of material welfare. Many economists following this school consider utility concept given by Marshall as his greatest contribution to the subject economics. A.C.Pigou studied the important aspects of wage structure. The importance of scarcity and the problem of choice as pointed out by Robbins paved the way for thinking in new lines. Marginal productivity theory given by Clark, the quantity theory of money by Fisher, Pareto optimality conditions, Walrasian general equilibrium model etc were some milestones of neoclassical school of thought. Mrs.Joan Robinson's contributions in the field of growth models have significant impact on economics of growth in the later periods.

Monetarism

The old monetarists like Irving Fisher, Marshall, Pigou etc have contributed significantly to the development of modern monetary theories. All of them contributed to the age old quantity theory of money which stated that money supply is the sole variable affecting the price level. Any change in the money supply has a direct and proportionate relationship with price level. Fisher gave the famous equation of exchange which says, MV=PT. The same idea had been conveyed by the Cambridge economists Pigou and Marshall through the equation Md=kPY.

The most important figure among modern monetarists is Milton Friedman of Chicago University. Other important names in USA include Anna Schwartz, Karl Brunner and Allan Meltzer. The prominent monetarists outside USA include David Laidler, Michael Parkin and Allan Walters. Modern monetarists explain not only the changes in general price level but also changes in output and employment. According to monetarists money supply is the prime determinant of nominal GDP in the short run and general price level in the long run. The output or real income is determined in the long run by the real factors like stock of capital, the level of technology, the propensity to save, natural resources, changes in human resources etc. However, inflation cannot occur without a more rapid increase in the quantity of money supply rather than an increase in output level. Monetarists refuted Keynesians argument that monetary policy is less effective in comparison with fiscal policies. According to them monetary policy should be conducted in a manner that money supply should grow at a constant rate. Money supply growth should be in line with economic growth targets. They believed in the inherent stability of the private sector and the cyclical fluctuations in the economy are mainly due to bad policies of the government. It is interesting to see that in monetarists' view point the severity of Great Depression (1929-33) was mainly due to the failure of Federal Reserve in preventing bank failures and the consequent reduction in money supply across the world. If a country suffers from inflationary pressures, it is mainly due to rapid expansion of money supply at a higher rate than the level of output.

Keynesian School and the Emergence of Macroeconomics

Before the so called 'Keynesian revolution' which led to the development of a separate branch of study in macroeconomics, it was existed under the name monetary theory. John Meynard Keynes has rewritten the history of economics and brought revolutionary changes in the field of economics. His teachers, including Alfred Marshall from the neoclassical school, taught the principles based on full employment, Say's law of markets and Laissez faire capitalism. But he challenged all of them and proved that what they believed was not right. The Great Depression (1929-33) was a period of great turmoil in Europe and America. Their economies were shattered and unemployment mounted to unprecedented levels. Several economists attempted to analyse the scenario and came up with theories and solutions. Keynes, in his famous book, A General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was published in 1936, in which he had analysed the Great Depression of 1930s in a very convincing way. According to him the Great Depression was caused by the fall in aggregate demand which he referred to as effective demand. As a result of fall in aggregate demand recessionary trend appears which culminated in a depression. Keynes refute the Classical economists' viewpoints including full employment theory, monetary neutrality, Say's law, saving investment equality and so on. According to him, during recession, monetary policy would be highly unsuccessful because the increase in money supply would be trapped in the economy as the interest rate is low. Keynes called it as liquidity trap in his theory of liquidity preference. Keynes advocated for massive Government intervention in reviving aggregate demand in the economy. Keynes emphasized the role of Government spending and private investment in determining the level of income and employment in the economy. For him, full employment equilibrium is only an ideal situation, but not common as Classicals believed. It can also be at below or above full employment levels. He considered that the major cause of inflation is the increase in aggregate demand above the full employment level, aggregate supply remaining constant. He has given the famous quote, 'In the long run we all are dead'. His analyses are mostly based on short term in mind.

The success of Keynesian policy framework helped almost all economies to rebuild the economies after such a disastrous depression period. It led to the development of a separate branch of economics that is the so called macroeconomics. The Keynesian legacy was continued by his followers extending his principles to other areas of study. Economists like Hansen and Samuelson studied the application of Keynesian principles in different aspects. Harrod and Domar extended the Keynesian growth models into the long run development aspects of developed economies. For many years it was widely believed that Keynesian solutions are the ultimate end of it which can resolve all the problems of modern economies. In 1970s an unprecedented phenomenon appeared in advanced economies, the existence of inflationary trend along with mounting unemployment. It is referred to as stagflation, since inflation is present when the growth is stagnant. Till that time it was believed that during high inflation unemployment tends to be low because of better productivity and higher profitability. Besides, Keynesian policy suggestions didn't seem to be effective in this context and they were proved to bring more acute negative consequences. For instance, if Government spends more to curtail unemployment, inflation would increase further and the situation would be worse. Thus economics has grown much beyond Keynesian School of thought giving room for Post Keynesian Schools of economic thinking.

Supply side Economics

The supply side economics was emerged as an alternative to Keynesian demand management policies which were proved unsuccessful during the stagflation period. The supply side economists emphasized the role of managing the aggregate supply instead of aggregate demand. According to them stagflation is mainly caused due to leftward shift in aggregate supply curve cost push factors which increases the price level and curtails the output level. The problem can be resolved if we can raise the level of aggregate supply so that the aggregate supply curve would be shifted back to the previous level. Arthur Laffer has given the most important contributions in this field through drawing a connection between low marginal tax rates and high tax revenue. The provisions of supply side economists include deregulation and delicensing, reduction of marginal tax rates and its positive effects on output, saving, investment and tax revenue, liberalization policies etc. It is better known to some people as 'Reagonomics', since US president Ronald Reagon popularized greater tax cuts to boost the economy.

New classical Economics

New classical macroeconomics dates from the 1970s. It uses the neoclassical microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic analysis. The original idea of rational expectations was developed by John.F.Muth, but it was popularized by Robert Lucas. It is an attempt to explain macroeconomic problems and issues using micro-economic concepts like rational behaviour, and rational expectations. In Friedman's theory when aggregate demand increases, in the short run general price level increases, which induce firms to expand output and employment. In this nominal wages lag behind the changes in the general price level. According to Robert Lucas, a prominent figure associated with New Classical School, there is no reduction in unemployment rate since the increase in price level is correctly anticipated and incorporated by the workers and business firms into the wages. It is only the price level that rises, leaving the real output and unemployment unchanged. The other leading economists who have worked immensely in this field are Thomas Sargent, Neil Wallace and Edward Prescott.

Conclusion

In a closer analysis we can see that the growth and evolution of the subject economics happened systematically over a long period through additions and deletions by numerous economists, philosophers and policy makers. It is very important to note that economics is still an evolving subject as it deals with society and human behavior. It is the reason by which the domains of economics have been extended to new horizons. Interdisciplinary researches have been increasingly important in modern days. It also contributes to new thinking and new ways of finding solutions to existing problems. The issues pertaining to developing world are also widely addressed. The globalization and market integration moves have made it important to address issues globally rather than looking at issues at a micro level. The science of economics is still awaiting revolutionary changes that suit the current needs of the economies. It is nothing but the growth of the discipline under consideration.

References

M. De Vroey & P. Malgrange. (2011). The history of macroeconomics from Keynes's general theory to the present, Discussion paper 2011-28, ISSN 1379-244X D/2011/3082/028, IRES, University of Louvaine.

David Laidler. (2005). Keynes and the birth of modern macroeconomics, RBC Financial Group,  Economic Policy Research Institute (EPRI) Working Paper Series, Number 2005-2.

Ernesto Screpanti & Stefano Zamagni. (2006). An outline of the history of economic thought, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, New York.

H.L.Ahuja. (2012). Macroeconomics:Theory and Policy. 18^th Revised Edition, Sultan Chand Publishers.

Dornbusch, Fischer & Startz. (2010). Macroeconomics. 11^th  Edition, Tata Mc Graw Hill.

Dwivedi. D. N. (2005). Macroeconomics: Theory and Policy. Mc Graw Hill, New Delhi.

N. Gregory Mankiw. (2012). Macroeconomics. 8^th  Edition, Worth Publishers.

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATION IN INDIA- AMTOOR PAVANA RAO

HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGY EDUCATION IN INDIA

The history of psychological thought in India can be traced back to ancient times. Higher education in India has always been influenced by the social, economic and political context at any given time. The history of formal education in this discipline began as a result of several events that shaped the history of India 19^th century.

Following the accession of India to the English empire after 1857 an education system modeled on the lines of Oxford and Cambridge was introduced in India. Formal education in Psychology began in the early part of the 20^th century. The first Psychology department set up in the University of Calcutta in 1916 produced people trained in the western models of Psychology. Till then Psychology which was introduced in 1905 was under the department of Philosophy. Under the guidance of Dr. N. N. Sen Gupta a student of Wundt many Psychologists were trained in this department. (c.f. Jain, K.A., 2005). Many people preferred to enroll in Western Universities to get trained in the subject.

The Indian Psychoanalytic Society was started by Dr. Girinder Shekar Bose in 1922. Department of Psychology was started in Mysore University and Lucknow University in 1924. Dr Gopalaswami who started this department brought out Indian adaptations of Psychological tests and initiated the application of psychological principles in Education. The first Indian journal in Psychology, ‘Indian Journal of Psychology was started in 1925. Department of Applied Psychology and Experimental Psychology were set up in the University of Allahabad in 1946. Research in this period was based on western models and laboratory experiments to bring Psychology under the umbrella of science in alignment with western positivism.

Psychology Education Post Independence

Independent departments of Psychology which usually came under department of Philosophy started in the 1960’s-70’s. Pandit Nehru encouraged education and research in Psychology. The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICCSR) established in 1968 monitored the status of research in Psychology in India. The Institute of Psychological Research and Services in the department of Applied Psychology in Patna is involved in teaching and research.

The popularity of Psychology in academics can be attested by the growth in the number of Universities offering Psychology as a subject from 51/101 in 1975 to 70/219 in 2001(c.f. Jain, K.A. 2005). After the University Grants Commission (UGC) was set up in 1956 funding was provided to set up departments of Psychology at various universities. Psychology has been introduced in the Senior secondary level, graduation and post graduation level. Research is being carried out in these institutes as a part of funded research projects, doctoral and post doctoral work.

The pioneer of Clinical Psychology in India was Calcutta University whose applied section started in 1938 and also started training in Psychoanalysis in 1922.

Some of the major Institutes offering Psychology education in India are as follows:

The All India Institute of Mental Health which was set up in 1954 in Bangalore was renamed as National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in 1974 and it was an autonomous body and currently is a deemed University. The Department of Clinical Psychology offers a 2 year full time M Phil programme and a 3 year Phd programme.  They also provide short term training in various areas. Training programs were also introduced in Hospital for Mental Diseases in Ranchi in 1962.

Currently Psychology has been introduced in various organizations. Indian Institutes of Technology and Management offer doctoral programs in Psychology.

Psychology education and practice in India has been influenced by the West and Indian forms of Psychological thought has been sidelined till recently. People are now moving towards a more integrated and indigenized form of Psychology which is suitable for the Indian context. Indian Psychology as a paper has been introduced in most courses of Psychology.

References:

Dalai, A. K. (2011). A journey back to the roots: Psychology in India. Foundations of Indian Psychology Volume 1: Theories and Concepts, 27.

Jain, A. K. (2005). Psychology in India. The Psychologist, 18(4), 206-208.

Misra, G., & Paranjpe, E. A. C. (2012). Psychology in modern India. In Encyclopedia of the history of psychological theories (pp. 881-892). Springer US.

Singh, A. K. (1991). The comprehensive history of psychology. Motilal Banarsidass Publ..

http://www.nimhans.kar.nic.in/mhsp/default.htm

 

History of Commerce Education

History of commerce education in India.

Submitted by

Lakshmi J

1340102

The growth of industry and science in the recent past has demanded a specialized education in the field of commerce and industry. Education of commerce was started by private commercial institu­tions. To start with only book-keeping was taught. We find Munims used to train junior Munims under their apprenticeship. Later on private commercial institutes started teaching of book-keeping and accountancy. If we see the history commerce in higer education is nearly 102 years old. For such an education, Madras became a pioneer state where it started in 1886. The Government of Madras laid the foundation of commerce education by setting-up commercial institute in Madras. Two other institutions were established during the next ten years (by 1896).  Government of India also started commerce college at Calicut and Presidency college at Calcutta . In India Commerce education at University level made its first beginning in 1913 when Sydenham college of commerce and economics was established by Bombay, since then there has been steady increase in commerce courses and its related branches all over India, there is hardly any university or college which don’t have commerce department.

 

In the beginning of this century Calcutta Presidency College also introduced the teaching of commerce (1903). By about that time it was also introduced in Delhi. One more commercial institution was started in Bombay in 1912. In 1920's (1921-22) the first Fiscal Commission was set-up and this commission made certain important recommendations In the light of these recommendations some major improvements were vis­ible in various industrial fields especially in the field of iron and steel industry, sugar industry, tea industry, cotton industry and jute indus­try.

A very rapid growth of commercial educational institutions was observed during 1920-40. The Indian Institute of Bankers was estab­lished in 1926, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India was established in 1934. Later on in 1944, Institute of Works and Cost Accountants of India was established. In 1955, the Federation of Insurance Institutes was established.

In the early part of 19th century commerce education and training programs were formally started through as vocational courses intended for meeting the requirements of different local cadres in business and industry as also in government department. Commerce courses were formally elevated to the level of undergraduate graduate and post graduate and by 1930 many universities and colleges in the country introduced B Com and M Com commerce training programs suitable for those seeking commerce course after 12 . After that a number of commercial institutes were established in the country during 1920-40, The Indian Institute of Bankers was established in 1926. The Institute of Chartered Accountants was established in 1934 The federation of insurance institutions was established in 1955, commerce courses proliferated in India at the school college and university level during this period. Commerce education is defined as practical training however unfortunately in India it is more of theoretical education rather than focusing on practical aspect of the education it happened due to lack of infrastructure facilities lack of trained . Main drawback of commerce education at college and university level is lack of dynamism and emphasis of theory than practical aspect lack of co-ordination between universities and professional bodies, lack of uniformity and standardization of course content, absence of clear cut objective before the student community , inadequate method of modern teaching, lack of practical experience to both teacher and student. Commerce teacher is Jack of all trade who is expected to teach all the subjects. In earlier days commerce programs were linked to clerical and accounting personnel only. However due to demand and after economic liberalisation in India things have started changing many institutes offering practical exposure in the field of accounting banking taxation payroll e commerce have emerged successfully one of premier institute in India offering such type of practical training is The Institute of Professional Accountants Delhi – India engaged in enhancing the practical skills of students and making them employable with industry.

To cope with the increasing demand for the trained people to transact commercial and governmental jobs, it became essential to introduce the commerce education at school level.

To start with the teaching of short-hand and typing was intro­duced in Government schools and aided schools and afterwards the teaching of commerce was introduced in such schools. Now the com­merce education has been included in the school curriculum.

Chattapadhya (1987) stated that the objectives of commerce courses remained unclear till independence. After twelve years of independence the Indian National Government appointed the Special Committee for Commerce Education under the chairmanship of Dr. V.K.R.V. Rao, then Director of the Institute of economic Growth, Delhi in 1985. The committee emphasized mainly on three points so far as Commerce education is concerned. Firstly, Commerce courses of different Universities had to provide the infrastructure of professional education in Accountancy and cost accountancy etc. but also to pave the way for specialization in different disciplines included in the courses. Secondly, Commerce education imparted by the universities was not to be regarded as the competitor of professional courses, its role was complementary. Thirdly, commerce education and management education should be considered on discrete plans. From the Rao Committee’s recommendations, it has been revealed that no effort was made to professionalize the commerce education rather it was regarded as the facilitator of different professional courses. Most universities believed at that time that professional education conducted by the Indian Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and the Institutes of Cost and Works Accountants of India were equivalent to B. Com only, not M. Com. The special Committee for Commerce Education stressed that students should study post graduate course of commerce for further academic pursuits as well as for diversion into professional courses. That committee also emphasized that in M.Com course the students should be able to pursue research as well as to fill up the post of commerce teachers in different colleges and universities. Since then the commerce education has been remaining as a traditional education for which a separate branch named as Business education emerged.

Now, there is a great demand for office workers who can type readily and accurately, take and transcribe notes quickly and correctly, keep financial records and operate busi­ness machines effectively. In addition it has been discovered that type writing and other commercial subjects can make valuable contribu­tions to the general education of the students".In the new scheme of education (I.C. 10+2+3 pattern of educa­tion) sufficient attention has been paid to commerce education in Indian schools. In addition to shorthand and typing some more sub­jects that have been included for teaching in commerce are as follows:

(I) Book-keeping and Accountancy,

(II) Commercial mathematics,

(III) Sectarian practice,

(IV) Commercial English / Hindi,

(V) Commercial Law,

(VI) Industrial law,

(VII) Taxation,

(VIII) Income Tax,

(IX) Salesmanship,

(X) Applied economics,

(XI) Public relations, and

(XII) Advertising.

The teaching of Commerce subjects starts from XI class and in class XII the syllabus is quite advanced. Many a commercial subjects are also taught in vocational institutes.

At present commerce education is considered as good education because of the distinct advantages that a commerce student has over his counter-part in the arts faculty. It is believed that a commerce student not only achieves just training and perfection, but also a general professional intelligence.

·         1819 – The world's first business school, ESCP Europe was founded in Paris, France. It is the oldest business school in the world and now has campuses in Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, and Torino.

·         1855 - The Institut Supérieur de Commerce d'Anvers (State funded) and the Institut Saint-Ignace - École Spéciale de Commerce et d'Industrie (Jesuits education) were founded in the same year in the city of Antwerp, Belgium. After almost 150 years of business education and rivalry between catholic and state education, the successors of both institutions have merged in 2003 to the University of Antwerp.

·         1857 – The Budapest Business School was founded in the Austrian Empire as the first business school in Central Europe. It is the oldest public business school in the world

·         1871 – The Rouen Business School recently merged with Reims Management School under the name of NEOMA Business School. Rouen Business School is one of the oldest French business school.

·         1881 – The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the United States' first business school.

·         1898 – The University of St. Gallen established the first university in Switzerland teaching business and economics.

·         1900 - The first graduate school of business in the United States, the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, was founded. The school conferred the first advanced degree in business, specifically, a Master of Science in Commercial Sciences, the predecessor to the MBA.

·         1902 - The Birmingham Business School is the United Kingdom's first business school. Originally established as the School of Commerce was established in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

·         1906 – The Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) was established as the first university in Poland dedicated to teaching commerce and economics.

·         1908 - Harvard Business School was founded at Harvard University. It was the first program in the world to offer the Master of Business Administration degree.

·         1946 – The Thunderbird School of Global Management, then called the American Institute for Foreign Trade, was the first graduate management school focused exclusively on global business.

·         1949 – The University of Pretoria in South Africa founded the oldest business school in Africa. In January 2008 the Graduate School of Management was formally replaced by the Gordon Institute of Business Science.

·         1949 - XLRI - India's oldest business management school is founded.

·       1954 - The Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), University of Delhi is among one of the oldest business schools in India.

·         1955 - The Institute of Business Administration, Karachi was the first business school to be established outside North America to offer an MBA degree.

·         1991 – The IEDC-Bled School of Management was the first business school to offer an MBA program in Eastern Europe.

·         1994 – CEIBS (China Europe International Business School) was the first business school in China to have received funding from a foreign government, namely the European Commission.

Growth of Psychology as a field in India Sai Kirthi Kamath PhD student in Psychology

From alchemy to modern chemistry

Chemistry as a modern science began in the 17^th Century, where the scientific method and empiricism were applied, but this modern science still had roots in the past. Modern chemistry was built upon a long history of alchemy. Alchemy was associated with the philosophy and science of trying to turn base metals into gold and creating an elixir of life. Alchemy started somewhere in the Persian Empire, but has been practiced widely across the globe. Alchemists have made notable contributions to the field of Chemistry. In fact alchemy lead to the development of many of the apparatus that is used in laboratories today.

The distinction between alchemy and chemistry began to emerge when a clear differentiation was made by Robert Boyle in his work "The Sceptical Chymist" (1661). Chemistry is considered to have become a full-fledged science with the work of Antoine Lavoisier, who developed a law of conservation of mass. Boyle (1627–91) is often called the founder of modern chemistry (an honor sometimes also given Antoine Lavoisier, 1743–94).

Indian Chemistry Through The Ages

The story of early chemistry in India begins from Indus valley civilization (2600-1900 BC). Production of pottery and bricks could be regarded as the earliest chemical process in which materials were mixed, moulded and fired to achieve desirable qualities. Rasāyana (the way of the rasas) is the Sanskrit term employed in South Asian texts for "alchemy." In about the 8th century BC, the term rasa-rasāyana first appeared in Buddhist and Hindu tantric texts in reference to the supernatural power (siddhi) of obtaining a magical elixir. In India the history of education and training in chemistry dating back to over 2,600 years. Taxila (6th century BC) one of the earliest universities had medicine, surgery and metallurgy as the major fields of study.

Alchemy in India flourished in the medieval period (AD 800-1300). Numerous alchemical texts were written between the ninth and the fourteenth centuries AD. Nagarjuna was the most prominent scholar in the field of Indian alchemy. But from the early seventeenth century onward a marked decline in the alchemical writings was observed. After the decline of alchemy, iatrochemistry probably reached a steady state over the next 150-200 years, but then it too, declined due to the introduction and practice of western medicine in the 20th century. There was a large time gap between the giving up of old methods of production of certain chemicals and the adoption of newer methods based on modern chemical ideas.

India's chemical traditions were rich and varied, fused with a spiritual component. Although they may not have directly contributed to the birth of modern chemistry, they did considerably contributed in fields like metallurgy, gemmology and medicine.

References

http://humantouchofchemistry.com/the-chemistry-of-alchemy.htm

http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_chemistry.htm

http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document

https://explorable.com/alchemy

Mathematics education in India

The development in Nations and backbone of modernity is reflected through the Children’s education. To meet the challenges of the new economy it is very much required for the youth to have science and mathematics education. Many modern nations are looking forward in building a mathematical literate society and have got strong hopes in shaping up the current knowledge economy of the 21^st Century. The proficiency in mathematics is usually considered to be hard to achieve. The country India with its old Mathematical history, it is believed that it would produce some kind of proficiency in mathematics field.  In spite of so many society factors like problems of poverty, lack of interest towards the higher education, we are able to contribute knowledge to the body of existing knowledge. To meet the these kind of achievements it is very much required for every citizen to have knowledge in mathematics and the law called Right to Children to free and compulsory Education Act cam e into force in India as recently as April1, 2010 where it says it is must for every child to undergo elementary education for about eight years between the age group of 6-14. This Act ensures that the right to quality in Mathematics to the Children/youth of the Nation. This has to be put forth in the society strongly but unfortunately we see again Children working at the small ages because of so many other factors and one among being poverty.

For many Mathematics has become tool for the other subjects and many say that Mathematics is tool to solve the social problems, technological, industrial problems etc.  But I say it is not a tool for solving the problems, it is philosophy and it has its own philosophy in every aspect and it is a language for all the sciences.  Mathematics is like a diamond and diamond shines in all the angles. Mathematics is a Language where everyone should look around the diamond and make use of it from all the angles. So Mathematics is mother of all the languages in Science. Let us quickly have a look on History of Mathematics in India.

Most of the mathematics India from 5^th Century CE was in form of highly compressed and confusing verses. All these verses were transmitted orally from one generation to another generation. These verses were memorised and as a transmission of knowledge it was done orally from one generation to another generation. The Indians were so good in metrical composition that even infinite series expansion of trigonometric functions have been presented in the form of verses, with sometimes have an expression with two meanings. The power series of many functions arrived in India and the route taken by the math experts around 14^th Century to arrive at the solution were differed to a large extend by the route that the Europeans arrived at the same solution. Expansion Sine, Cosine functions were found earlier to English Mathematicians. More appropriate solutions were found by English Mathematical to work which were developed by many of the Indian Mathematicians. We the citizens of India Should be grateful for the most important subjects like Calculus, Arithmetic, Astronomy were developed by our Maths experts .To list few of them Madhava hailed from Sangamagrama, near Cochin lived during 1340-1425 A.D. Madhava gave a power series expansion of Sine function and few inverse trigonometric functions nearly 300 years earlier to the rediscovery of them in the west during the 17^th century. Paramesvara gave changes to Aryabhata system that most Keral Mathematicians were followed. He gave contribution towards the Astronomy during 1360-1455.One should not forget the contribution of Zero to the body of knowledge without which the mathematics would not have survived at present. Mathematics in India has a very long history.  Sulbasutras, the oldest extant texts (prior to 800 BCE) explicitly state and make use of the so-called Pythagorean theorem apart from giving various interesting approximations to surds, in connection with the construction of altars and fire-places of different sizes and shapes. By the time of

Aryabhata (c. 499 CE), the Indian mathematicians were fully conversant with most of the mathematics that we currently teach at the elementary level in our schools, which includes the methods for extracting square root, cube root, and so on. Among other things, Aryabhata also presented the differential equation of sine function in its finite-difference form and a method for solving linear indeterminate equation. The bavana law of Brahmagupta (c.628) and the cakravala algorithm described by Jayadeva and Bhaskaracarya (12th cent.) for solving quadratic indeterminate equation are some of the important landmarks in the evolution of algebra in India. We can see many Contributions from Indian Mathematicians much earlier to the Western Mathematicians.  

Let’s move to the diversity of India and let’s see how Mathematics was taught before and after the encounter of colonial. India being rich in culture and its diversity had a very rich and widespread culture of institutional education during precolonial era. The elementary institutions of learning were known as pathshalas, the higher institutions were known as tols, akin to colleges. The pathshalas were mainly for the village people where the children were divided into classes not with respect to the age but with the capability of learning Language and Arithmetic.  Mathematics at tols brings us to another set of institutions in the indigenous tradition, which was regarded as the centres for higher learning reserved exclusively for the upper caste Brahmins.  These institutions taught mainly theology, metaphysics, astronomy, logic and medicine.  These institutions were widely spread in different parts of the country like Bengal, Deccan and Southern regions.  The entire tradition was changed after the colonial encounter in India where Christian missionary societies like Schwartz schools in Tanjore in 1770’s to engage with the pathshalas and tols through the process of making education as a means of missionary work in the colony.               Mathematics was taught at the higher level for their benefits during colonial period. The notion of numeracy as defining the modern condition almost synonymous with the idea of literacy also tended to project one particular idea of what it means for a people to learn world of numbers.

 Let’s move to the Indian Education system at present in general about its structure and other related aspects. India’s education system is structured by developmental stages from pre-primary to

Post-graduate level. Elementary education (primary and upper primary) is managed separately from secondary (including higher secondary) education. Undergraduate education is typically for three years, and 4-5 years for professional degrees. Universities are regulated centrally but managed within the state, with a system of affiliated colleges providing undergraduate education.

While mathematics was seen to be an essential part of any curriculum from early on, perspectives differed. The Zakir Husain committee in 1937 saw it in relation to work. The National Policy on Education in 1986 saw it as a “vehicle to train a child to think, reason, analyse and to articulate logically.” However, the shape of mathematics education has remained largely the same over the last 50 years. In response to global curricular processes in India too there has been considerable curricular acceleration in school Mathematics. An important agenda for mathematics education in India is research in mathematics education. University departments, while undertaking research in education, by their typical structure, tend to attract largely people who are neither mathematically trained nor thus inclined. Mathematics education research in India, has tried to study a variety of issues. These have included understanding construction of mathematical knowledge among students, teachers, various groups and communities and understanding how they acquire this mathematical knowledge and use it to think and organize their experiences or organize their teaching and understanding ways in which social, political, economic and how these influence the curriculum, content, teaching and learning of mathematics and thus access to mathematics for all children/ students. Many studies have also been conducted to understand the relation between mathematics (as a discipline, its epistemology, history) and mathematics education. In this context, we see specific studies having been conducted with regard to issues related to the content of mathematics at different levels of education, processes involved in learning mathematics, and how different aspects of the classroom culture/process contribute to the acquisition of mathematical knowledge. Mathematics education research has evolved over decades of research, starting from Thorndike and the many critiques of his theory which focused on meaningful and purposeful mathematics to complex research designs and multiple disciplinary frameworks in order to explore the issues impinging on teaching and learning of mathematics. Many theories have been adapted and modified from other disciplines and theories of teaching and learning have been formulated in mathematics education. However, this development has not reached or is not shared uniformly across the globe.

India at present is looking for many research areas and mainly whatever the field it is, one should not forget that basic for all the languages in sciences is Mathematics without which technology would not have taken the place across the globe.

SUMAN GANESH B. S.

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