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      TV tonight: the moment of truth for Trump and Biden

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      US election night 11pm, BBC One; ITV; Sky NewsThe road to the 2020 US election has felt even more dramatic than anticipated, taking in everything from the “October surprise” of Trump being admitted to hospital to the unfurling consequences of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement. Tonight, the votes are counted and there won’t be any shortage of options in terms of assessing the news from the battleground states. Andrew Neil on the BBC? Tom Bradby on ITV? Or Ed Conway on Sky? Get ready for a nail-biter. Ammar KaliaAung San Suu Kyi: The Fall of an Icon 9pm, BBC TwoFrom Nobel peace prize winner to facing accusations of genocide, Aung San Suu Kyi has had an unpredictable fall from grace. This documentary charts her history from imprisonment to election victory before analysing her widely criticised response to violence against Rohingya Muslims. AKChannel Hopping With Jon Richardson 9pm, Comedy CentralRichardson enters the Clive James territory of pointing at telly and laughing, with a collection of wacky clips from around the world. His guests this week are Ivo Graham, whose TV obsessions are Britain’s Got Talent and Blind Date, and Judi Love on US cult classic Finding Bigfoot. Jack SealeBlack Monday 9pm, Sky ComedyThe periodically amusing Wall Street comedy starring Don Cheadle and Regina Hall returns. As season two begins, everyone is dealing with the cold, hard reality of what a stock market crash really entails. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t deals to make and opportunities to pursue if you know where to look. Phil HarrisonEducating Greater Manchester 9.15pm, Channel 4This series returns to Harrop Fold secondary in Salford. Headteacher Mr Povey’s career is under threat, while a new year 8 pupil arrives from Calcutta and tries to fit in with the students. We also catch up with Vincent, who promises he has reformed his mischievous ways. AKAlton Towers: A Rollercoaster Year 10.15pm, Channel 4This has been the year of the furlough documentary, revealing how UK attractions – from stately homes to zoos – have coped during lockdown. This latest addition doubles as a comeback special, shadowing staff at the venerable theme park as they prepare for reopening in a tight 12-day window. Graeme VirtueFilm choice More

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      Coronavirus: Students in Scotland told ‘realistic possibility’ they may not be allowed home for Christmas

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      University students in Scotland may have to stay in their halls of residence over Christmas, the Holyrood government has said.John Swinney, Scotland’s education secretary, said there was a “realistic possibility” that students would be prevented from returning home in December “if we have a situation where the virus has not been controlled”.Speaking on the BBC Good Morning Scotland radio programme, the deputy first minister said the return of students at Christmas “without a doubt” depends on the coronavirus infection rate being reduced.Asked if that meant students could be forced to remain in halls of residence, he said: “We want to avoid that at all possible cost because we want students to return home.”But I have to be realistic that, if we have a situation where the virus has not been controlled, then we will have to look at other scenarios and other plans.”Mr Swinney added: “There is a lot of thinking and work going on within the Scottish government, with Universities Scotland, the institutions, with the National Union of Students, and also with the governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to try to make sure this can be undertaken as safely as possible.”But there obviously is a risk that if the virus is not contained, then we may not be able to support the return of students to their homes.”We want to avoid that but it is a realistic possibility.” More

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      India’s New Education Policy Is Full of Hodge-Podge Nonsense

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      The union cabinet of the government of India recently announced its 2020 National Education Policy (NEP). This is the first education policy developed by a non-Congress party government since independence. Coming 34 years after the last formulation of a fully-fledged education policy, Indians anticipated a significant pivot in the education system to leverage the country’s demographic dividend. India’s current political leadership claimed it wanted to make the country a “vishwa guru,” the Sanskrit word for a world teacher, and would dramatically reform its education. Therefore, great expectations from the NEP seemed natural.

      360° Context: The State of the Indian Republic

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      Prima facie, the NEP might make many Indians happy because it has something in it for everyone. However, a careful read reveals that the NEP does little to change the direction of our education. It largely promises cosmetic changes. In essence, the NEP is a collection of myriad aspirational expressions, not a coherent policy framework.

      The ideologues of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may find the references to ancient wisdom of India heartening. It might lead to young Indians learning that Banabhatta outlined 64 forms of art or Sushruta pioneered glorious surgical techniques. However, it does little to prepare the young to shape the future.

      Given my advocacy of long-term policymaking, I should have reasons to thank those who drafted the NEP. They have taken a 20-year view and set goals for 2040. Just as we plan over a 20-year timespan, not a five-year one, for our children, so should our national plans. Yet a bad 20-year plan is worse than its bad five-year counterpart, and that is my problem with the NEP.

      What Are the Changes Proposed?

      Let me pick on a key aspect of the plan. The NEP proposes the three-language formula. This means that, all over the country, students will learn three languages. These are Hindi, English and the regional language of the respective state. The government believes that it is abolishing language barriers in the country. Instead, this has triggered off a storm in non-Hindi speaking states. In Tamil Nadu, there has been long-standing opposition to Hindi as compulsory learning or administration. The three-language formula has been around since 1968 but failed to take off because parts of India resent the domination and imposition of Hindi.

      There is another tiny little matter. Demand for learning in English has taken off around the country, including and especially in Hindi-speaking areas. Thanks to the legacy of colonization, the advent of globalization and a host of other factors, English has emerged as the language of success in India. The people do not care for the three-language formula one jot. Yet the BJP’s NEP is flogging a dead horse.

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      Many have lauded the NEP for promoting multidisciplinary education. This has long been discussed. At far too young an age, Indians are cast into rigid silos of arts, science and commerce. As a result, they lose love for learning and end up at lower-productivity levels than their counterparts in Europe or East Asia. The NEP allows students to change disciplines more easily along the same lines as in the US. However, this flexibility will only benefit the country if quality education is offered in different disciplines. For instance, English and history are taught terribly in a rote-based manner in most schools. Shifting from science or commerce to study either subject might enable a student to pass more easily but would achieve little else.

      The NEP offers greater flexibility in earning degrees either over a period of time or across subjects. Offering multiple entry and exit points in higher education is a good idea. It may help people find their true interests and give them second or third chances in life. However, the key logical next step is to unlink degrees from jobs, where academic degrees are immaterial. A new form of recruiting that is based on demonstrated merit and knowledge of the work itself is the way forward for the country. The NEP has missed that opportunity to curb India’s fixation with degrees and promote a culture of focus on work.

      Supporters claim that the NEP is focusing on work by combining vocational education with school and college education. In due course of time, vocational education will be on par with other degree programs. A carpenter, a plumber or an electrician will command the same respect as someone with a master’s degree in literature, history or sociology. This argument is disingenuous. Increasing “respect” for vocational programs involves changes in social perceptions. It requires much deeper and drastic changes than those envisaged by the NEP.

      Bad Thinking and Poor Drafting

      In fact, the NEP is full of seemingly good ideas that have simply not been thought through. It has passing references to fostering creativity and instituting a 360-degree view in student report cards. It also throws in digital education, adult learning and lok-vidya (folk education) about local heritage and culture. Yet the NEP fails to tell anyone how these ideas will come into practice.

      The drafters of the NEP forget that soundbites are not policy. Nor are tweaks. Turning a 5+3+2+2 system into a 10+2 or 5+3+3 one does not change the way students are taught or the way they learn. Similarly, giving a certificate after year one, a diploma after year two and a bachelor’s after year three does not change syllabi, pedagogy and learning. Yes, a student can drop out after a year with a certificate, but would that be worth the paper it was written on?

      To change education, India must improve the quality and commitment of its teachers. Training them in institutions with new names or giving students multiple exits or entries in a four-year bachelor of education program offers flexibility in getting a degree but does not improve the quality of their instruction.

      In comparison with earlier education policies, the National Education Policy is a poorly-drafted document. It is a testament to how India has regressed under the BJP. The demonetization policy was instituted by a hasty, poorly-drafted document. It seems that the government does not have the intellectual policymaking firepower of its predecessors.

      One sentence in paragraph 4.13 on page 14 of the NEP captures drafting woes common to recent government documents when it proclaims: “In particular, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or 7, as long as they are able to demonstrate basic proficiency in three languages (including one language of India at the literature level) by the end of secondary school.”

      Does this mean that students can change the languages they are learning as long as they can travel into the future, i.e., Grade 12, and prove they are proficient in the new languages they choose? Or does it mean that students must be prepared to prove proficiency in the languages they choose in Grade 12? Sadly, the NEP is full of such unadulterated absolute nonsense.

      The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer’s editorial policy. More

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      Coronavirus: Universities to be asked to abandon face to face teaching ahead of Christmas break

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      Universities are to be asked to move all teaching online in the run up to Christmas in a bid to get students home safely and prevent mass Covid-19 outbreaks across the country.It follows fears the migration of students into campuses in recent weeks has helped drive a sharp spike in cases.Tens of thousands of students across the country have since tested positive for coronavirus.  A number of institutions have also reported significant outbreaks.Reports suggest universities could be asked to abandon face-to-face tuition as early as 8 December.Some will already have finished for the year at that stage.
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      Stephen Cohen obituary

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      The scholar of Russian history and politics Stephen Cohen, who has died aged 81 of lung cancer, challenged the orthodox western analysis of the Soviet Union and post-Soviet affairs. In his magisterial book Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives (2009), he demolished the claim that Leninism led inevitably to totalitarian dictatorship under Stalin and that the Soviet system of one-party rule and state ownership of property could never be reformed.He cited three periods when developments could have gone differently from what actually happened: in the late 1920s, when debates within the Politburo came to a head over the New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed for private enterprise and ownership of land and property; in the early 60s, when Nikita Khrushchev launched key political reforms; and in 1990 and 1991, after Mikhail Gorbachev introduced a mixed economy and social democratic solutions based on political pluralism in place of the Communist party’s monopoly of power.With his sense of humour, gravelly voice and iconoclastic arguments, Cohen entranced generations of students from his academic perch at Princeton University for the three decades from 1968, in which he rose to be professor of politics and Russian studies, and then at New York University (1998-2011).He wrote a column in the Nation, under the byline Sovieticus from 1982 to 1987 and in recent years hosted a weekly radio broadcast on Russian-American relations, which he feared were leading to a new cold war. He blamed Bill Clinton and policymakers in Washington for failing to include Russia in a new European order after the Soviet Union came to an end and for expanding Nato eastwards in a spirit of “we won” triumphalism. George W Bush and Barack Obama compounded the failure by siting US anti-ballistic missile systems on Russia’s borders.During the Soviet period Cohen was unusual among western specialists on Russia in having friends among dissidents as well as reformist intellectuals in the Moscow thinktanks. His book The Victims Return was based on interviews with dozens of survivors of Stalin’s labour camps about their problems in returning to freedom.Amid the new freedoms permitt- ed by Gorbachev after 1985, Cohen and his wife, Katrina vanden Heuvel, the publisher and editor of the Nation, made frequent long trips to Moscow and got to know the new Soviet leader personally. At one of the last May Day celebrations in Red Square, Gorbachev invited them both to stand beside the Lenin mausoleum to watch the parade. More

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      Coronavirus: Students breaking social guidelines 'on the whole' behind university spikes, minister says

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      Thousands of students have been told to self-isolate following outbreaks at UK universities. Michelle Donelan, the universities minister, said while the “vast majority” of students had been following the rules in place to limit the spread of coronavirus, a minority had been “sometimes socialising in a way that is not fit with the guidance”.“That is why we have seen some of these spikes on the whole arising,” she told the Education Select Committee on Tuesday. Hundreds of Covid-19 cases have been reported at universities since term started. Read moreMore than 750 are self-isolating at Northumbria University after testing positive, while around 500 cases have been confirmed among Sheffield University students and staff.When asked when concerns arose over a potential spike in demand for testing at universities, Ms Donelan said: “A lot of this depends on student behaviour in terms of the outbreaks.”The Conservative MP said some spikes could be down to students arriving at university unaware they had coronavirus. “But on the whole, it is the socialising,” she added.“We always knew there would be cases of Covid, we are in the midst of a pandemic,” Ms Donelan told the committee. “Our job is to minimise that risk as much as possible, which we have done,” she said, citing guidance provided to universities to make sure campuses are Covid-safe, as well as the move to blended learning.Additional reporting by Press Association More

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      'Time is running out' to plan for next year's GCSE and A-Level exams, unions warn

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      Geoff Barton from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) told The Independent the government “needs to show a greater sense of urgency” on the matter. On Monday, five education organisations put forward a series of proposals over next year’s exams, including having contigency plans if pupils cannot take exams or their preparation was badly disrupted, and giving students more choice over what questions to answer. The group – which includes the ASCL and the school leaders’ union NAHT – also suggested students due to take GCSEs and A-level exams in 2021 should be prioritised for Covid-19 testing to reduce “ongoing disruption” to their learning. Reports have suggested there could be a delay to the exam timetable next year to help deal with disruption caused by coronavirus – which kept some pupils out of school for months this year. Read moreHowever, unions have suggested different changes are needed amid the fallout from the pandemic. “Qualifications awarded on the basis of a series of exams, where students’ experiences of teaching and learning next year could be very different because of local lockdowns or other restrictions, will be unfair and may lead to additional disadvantage for some students compared to others,” Paul Whiteman from the NAHT said.“The right approach to alleviate this issue is the adjustment to assessments and exams in 2021 to take account of the fact that students may not have covered the full course content.”The NAHT’s general secretary added: “However, there is now a very short timeframe of opportunity to achieve this.”Mr Barton from the ASCL told The Independent: “The benefit of shifting exams to a later date is really quite marginal compared to the scale of what has happened.”The return to school last month was the first time all students were allowed back in the classroom since March. Mr Barton told The Independent: “There has to be a robust contingency plan for those who are unable to sit exams or whose preparation over the next few months is very badly disrupted.”Watch more“We are proposing some form of staged assessment in the autumn or spring term to provide a basis for awarded grades for students in these circumstances.”He added: “But time is running out and the government needs to show a greater sense of urgency.”Mr Williamson told the Education Select Committee there will be an announcement this month concerning the 2021 exams.Days later, a government U-turn meant students could take their Centre Assessed Grades if higher than their moderated ones.The Independent has approached the DfE for comment. Additional reporting by Press Association More

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      Coronavirus: One in nine pupils absent from school as lack of testing drives fears of ‘lockdown by default’

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      More than one in nine pupils were absent from school last week, government figures show, as teachers and unions warned a lack of available coronavirus tests meant more schools would be forced to close, leading to “lockdown by default”.After schools reopened in England following six months of closure during the pandemic, education secretary Gavin Williamson touted the fact that 99.9 per cent of schools were open to at least some pupils.But absence rates were more than double that of pre-Covid times, with Department for Education (DfE) statistics suggesting 12 per cent of pupils were not in attendance on 10 September.Some 92 per cent of state schools were fully open, the DfE estimates, providing face-to-face teaching for pupils all day with no groups self-isolating. In these schools, 90 per cent of pupils were in attendance.“The best place for children and young people to learn is in the classroom, and it’s encouraging to see that last week more than seven million pupils were back with their classmates and teachers at schools around the country,” Mr Williamson said, adding: “The fact that the vast majority of our schools are fully open is testament to the hard work of staff throughout the summer holidays in preparing for a safe return.”Read moreBut reports emerged of individual schools being forced to send hundreds of pupils home after identifying cases of coronavirus, in lieu of the affected pupils and teachers being able to access tests.As chaos in the testing system — described by one MP as a “bloody mess” — dominated the Commons on Tuesday, with Twickenham’s MP saying constituents had found the only way to access a test in west London was to pretend to live in Aberdeen, health secretary Matt Hancock announced tests were being rationed.Acknowledging “operational challenges” in the system, Mr Hancock said there would be “prioritisation” of tests for people with acute clinical need and those in social care settings.With a prioritisation list not due for several days, this was widely interpreted to mean schools would be even less likely to be able to access tests.One union warned of widespread school closures and “a return to lockdown by default”.“We are getting reports of bubbles of 250 children being sent home. People on the ground are telling me this is not sustainable and they cannot keep their schools open,” said the Association of School and College Leaders’ general secretary, Geoff Barton.”Children are being sent home who cannot get tests, and parents are being forced to take two weeks off to look after them. We will end up in an effective lockdown. There is an escalating sense that we will end up with a return to lockdown by default.”In outrage over the lack of tests, teachers were set to hold a “staggered protest” outside the DfE on Wednesday afternoon in a demonstration organised by the Education Solidarity Network.“I’m a teaching assistant in Bristol and have been off with cold-like symptoms. I now feel well enough to go back but I can’t. I’ve been trying to get a test all day but with no luck,” one supporter told the i newspaper.
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