Hoshangabad Science Teaching Program (HSTP)

16th May, 2003: The HSTP program is now closed :(. However, the volunteers are still putting in their energy to make a difference: An update of HSTP teaching workshop in June 2003

Articles with information about the program

• Sep 15th, issue of Down to Earth carries an article 'Experiments with Truth' by Sapan Joshi. (You need to be subscribed to Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) to read this article).
• Sep 5th, article in Daily Times (USA) "Knowing the world through science" - M V Ramana
• Sep 2nd, Meena Menon article on Humanscape carries an article on HSTP and the latest developments.
• Aug 13th, Hindustan Times article by Anil sadgopal Prof. of Education, University of Delhi.
• Aug 11, The Hindu Of Laziness and Tenency.
• August 5th, An opinion in The Hindu describing the origin and the abrupt closure of HSTP.
• An article by Sushil Joshi , August 3, Hindustan Times.
• August 3rd, EPW Eklavya Closure Notice
• July 25th, Thelka.com article On the abrupt closure of the HSTP program by the MP government and the campaign against the closure.
• June 30th, An article in The Hindu not only describing the actitivites of HSTP, but also describing the decision to close the program.
• June 9th,Deccan Herald articleAn article on the curriculum innovation in Eklavya's social science programme
• May 25, EPW Editorial Dead Hand of Obscurantism.
• May 21st, Times of India Article An article describing Eklavya's work and events related to the closure of HSTP
• An article on Synergy.com that describes some of the experimental techniques and describes the events till May 11th.
• An editorial in the Economic & Political Weekly On the HSTP and Social Science programmes of Eklavya. This was published on 25th May 2002.
• An article published in the M.P. Chronicle On the dilemma of popular democracy and techinical knowledge by Amman Madan.
• The article A vision for India's schools in Frontline that describes the vision of Dr.Anil Sadgopal, trained as a molecular biologist from Caltech and working through the HSTP.
• An article in businessline that describes how the HSTP is reaching out to the adivasis and making education accessable to them using simple kits and local articles.

• Report and recommendations of the National Seminar on Science Teaching held at Bhopal, Nov. 15-17, 1985
• Final Report of the HSTP evaluation committee set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development submitted in 1991.
• How is hands-on learning evaluated? This is from a educational resource organization(North Central Regional Educational Laboratory's) and includes comments by U.S secretary of education.
• Axing a science teaching programme , An article by R.Ramachandran in Frontline (Volume 19 - Issue 18).
• A Black Day in Education , A report by Prof. R.K.Agnihotri on the web magazine Shikshantar.
• Science Teaching with a difference , A report on HSTP's teaching methodology by Urjit A Yajnik
• Report by Anil Sharma and Sangeeta Kohli, volunteers of Asha for Education about activities of Eklavya and HSTP.
• Education in the South Asian Context: Issues and Challenges by Amitabha Mukherjee, Anil Sadgopal, P.K. Srivastava and Vijaya S. Varma presented at the South Asia Conference organised by the Dept of Education, Univeristy of Delhi, November 1999: An article describing the condition of schools where HSTP was introduced, constraints and experiments as well as successes and failures.
• 'Khushi Khushi': An experiment in making primary schooling a happy experience. - By Farida Abdulla Khan
• Nitya Rao, who is on the staff of the Asian-South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education (ASPBAE) gave this courageous and respected speech at a plenary session of the World Forum. This was on one of the themes concerned with cooperation with the civil society for the purposes of attaining social goals through adult education. At the end of her speech she asked why it was that fewer than half of the NGOs present in Jomtien were contributing in Dakar.
• Academic and administrative characteristics of the HSTP A note written in March 2001
• Report on HSTP activites : Report of the work done in HSTP between April 1998 to March 2001.
• A copy of document produced by IISC on Science Education listing the importance of programs including the HSTP in scientific learning in the future. This article is taken from: http://www.iisc.ernet.in/insa/ch4.pdf
• Earlier Petition rejecting the recomendation of the closure of HSTP This is the petiotion that was signed by over 300 people when the recomendation for closure of HSTP was proposed. The petition was in part responsible for delaying the action of closing the center for the last three months.
• An unpublished article "Students In Hoshangabad District Are NOT Guinea Pigs!" by Rex d'Rozario.

Recent Developments

• Oct 16th, Eklavya responds to GoMP's offer for state level interventions Also suggests a blue-print for improvement in science education at the state level thro' a Concept Note.
• Oct 3, Concept paper from Eklavya on colaboration between Ekalavya and the government for improvement of science education in MP.
• Sep 6th, Update on recent press activities and press statement issued by 13 eminent Indian scientists.
  • Press statement by the scientists.
• Sept 3, A letter to the President by Anil Sadgopal Prof. of Education, University of Delhi.
• Aug 29th, Update from HSTP.
• Articles about HSTP closure in the local press.
• Eklavya's response to upscale indicating where they can help and questions to make the plans more concrete.
• The CM's Statement, as put up on the web site of the Department of Public Relations, Madhya Pradesh.
• Shifting stands of the MP Government The CM's new statement has indicated that the closure of the HSTP curriculum was based on having uniform textbooks rather than following the decision of the DFC of Hoshangabad.
• Offer to upscale Eklavya Letter by Amita Sharma offering to upscale some activities of Eklavya to state level
• Correspondence between the Chief Minister and Professor Yashpal:
  • July 31st, Response by Prof. Yashpal to the CM's reply and decision.
  • The Chief Minister's reply to Professor Yashpal
  • Feb 25th, Letter by Prof. Yashpal to the CM about the developments regarding HSTP.
• The letter to the CM indicating the same concerns.
• Dharna Impressive A report on the Dharna protesting the closure of HSTP
  • A petition submitted to the CM, from the organizations that got together for the HSTP dharna.
  • Aug 4, Press Note from Eklavya about the dharna and the closure of HSTP.
• Aug 2nd, Is the CM being misled? Response of Eklavya to the comments made by the CM, pointing to inconsistencies and asking some very pertinent questions about the situation.
  • Eklavya's letter to Hoshangabad collector regarding the signature campaign, with collector's notation.
  • MP Board of Secondary Education, High school certificate examination 2002 statistics.
• Aug 1st, Note on latest developments: Including the CM's statement, call for financial help to support the dharna and children who are being forced to write letters to support the new textbooks.
• Aug 1st, CM statement Defending the stand of the govt to the closure of HSTP.
• HSTP Dharna at Bhopal on August 4th
• July 29th, Correspondence between Sri. Gopalakrishnan and Vidyanathan on the information presented by the government
• July 28th, Update on closure of HSTP program in Harda districts Letter from HSTP stating the situation of closure of the HSTP program in districts other than Hoshangabad.
• July 27th, HDI Analysis An analysis of Human Development Index data by Srikanth from information downloaded from the different official websites (see attached spreadsheets). Analysis based on the data that constitute a counter to some of the govt conclusions.
  • Gender Development Index of 1998
  • MP Literacy rates
  • Human Development Index 1998
• July 26th, HSTP program ordered to be closed down in Harda Update on the HSTP program being closed down in the Harda district as well.
• July 26th, Government note A note on the issue responding to concerns expressed and clarifying that Ekalavya has been requested to expand its role as a Technical support Organisation.
• July 25th, Updates from HSTP Updates on the local effort in Hoshangabad by HSTP, educationalists, children, etc.
• What is the local support for HSTP? Details of the local signature campaign for HSTP with distribution of over 1800 signatures.
• Sri Gopalakrishnan's response to Raina
• July 24th, Vinod Raina's revised final response to HSTP This includes all the figures that were given in the original report that didn't come up before.
• July 24th, Update from HSTP Update from HSTP mentioning the recent developments, and pressures faced by the organization.
• Scanned ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS Scanned original documents related to the closure of the HSTP
• July 22st, Revised Reply by Dr. Vinod Raina Revised point to point response by Dr. Raina on the note circulated by Sri. Gopalakrishnan.
• July 21st, Update of Developments on HSTP Updates about the press conference on response to CM.
• July 21st, Clarifications from the Government A note from Sri. R. Gopalakrishnan clarifying the decision and stand of the government and replying to the letter from Eklavya on HSTP. (Same as Annexure A in letter below).
• July 18th, Correspondence between GOMP (School Education) and Ekalavya Letter from the school education to Eklavya requesting them to scale up in Science Education through teacher training and a note on issues raised by Eklavya, (letter dated July 8th).
• July 12 - July 15 updates from HSTP A list of all mails and updates from the HSTP in the recent time.
• July 14th, Response by Dr. Raina to the Govt report This is the response of Dr. Raina to the report that we received from Sri. R.Gopalakrishnan from the Government on analysis that resulted in the decision to close down the program.
• July 13th, Article to be published in the Hindustan Times, by Dr. Vinod Raina Dr. Vinod Raina a physicist and one of the founders of Eklavya goes over the program and describes the political reasons behind the action of closing down the center.
• July 13th, Eklavya Press Release Eklavya press summing up all developments on the government's decision and posing the questions that need to be answered.
• July 11th, Letter from HSTP to CM informing him of the order for closure while talks with him about Eklavya's future are in progress
• July 11th, Letter from HSTP to Amita Sharma asking for a stalling the closure till CM's decision
• July11th, Analysis of the data of presented by Shri R. Gopalakrishnan :Eklavya's response to points raised by Mr. Gopalakrishnan.
• Report on Government stance We received (on July 12th) a report from Shri R.Gopalakrishnan on HSTP with the analysis and reasons of the Government to close down the program.
• July 3rd, Amita Sharma's mail ordering for closure of the centers (translated from hindi)
• June 5th, Comprehensive Report on HSTP activites This is the report submitted by HSTP about it's activities to the govt this is referred to in the documents of the government.
• June 5th, Report: Bibliography and References This is the bibliography and references for the report.

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