Fragrance of The Raj
 |
Kabir Mustafi
Bishop Cotton School,
Shimla |
Bishop Cotton School, located in the lush, verdant hills of Shimla, the capital city of Himachal Pradesh has many things to be proud of. Established way back in 1859,this public school has been a silent spectator of the last phase of the British Raj. Infact its rich heritage and cultural traditions are reminiscent of the colonial era. Time however, has not stood still at Bishop Cotton School., Ranked among the best residential schools in the country, it has suitably moulded itself to be able to cater to the exigencies and demands of the education system prevalent in the country today.
On the memorable occasion of its 144th birth anniversary, we at
National Network of Education decided to take a close look at this hallowed portal of education, in order to discover its status and contribution to the arena of education. The dynamic
Mr. Kabir Mustafi, presently the headmaster of the school, spoke at length about organisation, which he heads as well as India's future propects both in terms of education and careers.
Please tell us briefly about your educational & career background? I have done my schooling from St. Paul's School, Darjeeling and earned a bachelor's degree in English Honours from Delhi University in 1974, a bachelor's of education degree in 1982 from the University of North Bengal and a master's degree, also in English, from University of North Bengal in 1985. My teaching career began in 1979 when I joined the teaching faculty of St. Paul's School, Darjeeling, one of India's most prominent public schools.
I have been appointed the Headmaster at Bishop Cotton School, Shimla in 1994. My areas of professional interest include curriculum design and school education policies to improve the quality of Indian school level education. I am a member of apex organisations such as the Standing Committee on Examinations, CISCE, Inter-state Board for Anglo-Indian Education representing Himachal Pradesh, Curriculum Design Committee for Senior Secondary Schools, Government of Himachal Pradesh and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, United Kingdom.
Why and how did you opt for Bishop Cotton, Shimla?It so happens that both St.Paul's School in Darjeeling and Bishop Cotton School in Shimla were established by Bishop Cotton, a great educationist who also established Marlborough College, one of the most prestigious public schools in England. So the ethos and culture at St. Paul's has close resemblance with that of Bishop Cotton School, Shimla. Incidentally, my Senior Master, at present, was also formerly associated with St. Paul's.
What is the USP of this school, i.e. features that distinguish it from other reputed boarding schools in the country?I'd have to say first and foremost that we are the first residential school for boys to induct a prefect system, a house system, competitive games, various extra-curricular activities and so on- these are hallmarks of the British Public School System and Bishop Cotton School in Shimla, which is turning144 years old this year. It is in fact the first school in Asia to incorporate these features.
More generally speaking, Bishop Cotton School seeks to inculcate a holistic all-round development of character in its boys with equal emphasis on academics and co-curricular activities and is inspired by its motto" Overcome Evil With Good."
Bishop Cotton School, Shimla has a challenge peculiar to older schools with glorious past histories and that is to keep the flag flying ever higher. I believe our old boys demand this so that they can be proud of their alma mater and the new ones yet to come expect as much. As for the present batch of 558 boys, I am always touched by the pride they take in their school. Our relevance will continue indefinitely if we maintain the standards that were set down by Bishop Cotton in 1859 and our vision is broad enough to make necessary and timely changes to meet the aspirations of an increasingly globalising India.
What are the changes and developments, which have taken place during your tenure as a headmaster?
We have been renewing our physical facilities at a steady pace over the last decade and have just commissioned a spacious and modern gymnasium for example. We have revamped the dormitories and toilet blocks and indeed reconstructed the whole of the junior school! In addition, we have Internet facilities, language laboratories, exchange programmes and many other innovations to keep pace with the changing times.
What have been your personal contributions to the school? This is an embarrassing question. The faculty at BCS works as a collective and all our accomplishments belong to all of us and to the successive batches of fine boys we educate and send out into the world. The Public School ethos lays great stress by solidarity and the "Old School Tie" and team spirit begins at the top. So yes, I am personally proud of that.
What are your views on the present day educational scenario in the country?The new millennium has thrown up brand new challenges. This is the Information Age, The Knowledge Age in contrast to the past eras of Industrialisation or Colonialism for instance. The Internet makes knowledge/information transmission swift and universal. We need to reform educational institutions and processes to suit. We need to decentralise, respond, democratize and be inclusive to keep up with the times.
What ails the education system in our country? I feel there is not enough of it. We need more schools, more colleges and greater quality all around. Then we need to reform curricula to keep up with rapidly changing times and offer wider choices and greater flexibility. We need to assess students more holistically in terms of their life skills as much as their academic prowess. There is much to be done and we need to quicken the pace.
Which in your opinion are the hottest careers options in India today?Well, certainly the MBA tends to command the highest prices as does the IIT alumni. In terms of career options we must take note of the burgeoning service industry, which has thrown up job opportunities that did not exist a few years ago in India. And this ranges from stock market related investment firms and advisers to BPOs and the IT sector. In addition, there is a fairly serious possibility that India is likely to emerge as a developed country in the not too distant future and manage this by leveraging its expertise in the management of information and by improving its infrastructure dramatically. All this augurs well for job opportunities pretty much across the board. What then will shrink? I think the bureaucracy certainly and the size of the government. Also the over staffing in PSUs and the like.
Do you agree that corruption and various malpractices are adversely affecting the Indian education system? What do you feel is the way out? There is a problem of artificial bottlenecks and inadequate processes. The crooks are getting smarter too. Greater automation will eradicate petty corruption to a large extent but open the door to technologically adept scams as in hacking and so forth. I think to an extent it will always be a running battle with the forces of corruption and malpractice. Both sides will have to get more sophisticated and the ultimate solution lies in changing the demand- supply ratio. There is no more corruption in gas connections and phone connections for example.
Do you think India will be able to secure a prestigious place for itself in the global educational scenario?It already has, in the sense that every Indian secondary student tends to do very well abroad in the western tertiary education system. We must be doing a lot of things right to have this happen consistently. We also seem to attract a lot of foreign students into BCS and similar top-drawer schools. Our tertiary education situation is however antiquated and inadequate for the numbers that need to receive college degrees. Every state needs to go in for more universities and invest them with the supervision and quality that our young students deserve. Until we do enough in this regard we are a country with a number of good schools and very few good colleges. Having said this, what we do turn out from our top colleges, IITs and IIMs are equal to the best in the world.
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