Author Archives: Stefanie Rentsch

About Stefanie Rentsch

Dr. Stefanie Rentsch ist wissenschaftliche Referentin am Forum Transregionale Studien Berlin und leitet dort den Bereich Publikationen und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Blogs: trafo.hypotheses.org, academies.hypotheses.org Stefanie Rentsch is head of publications and communication at the Forum Transregionale Studien Berlin. Blogs: trafo.hypotheses.org, academies.hypotheses.org

“A collapse of formal schooling in Egypt”: Interview with Hania Sobhy

Hania Sobhy Photo: Max Weber Stiftung under CC BY 4.0

Hania Sobhy
Photo: Max Weber Stiftung
under CC BY 4.0

Hania Sobhy is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Orient-Institut Beirut where she is writing up her research on Pro-Revolution Mobilization in Egyptian Elections 2012-2014. In 2012-2013, she was a postdoctoral Fellow with the EUME program of the Forum Transregionale Studien

During the conference “Inequality and Education”  she presented a paper about Educational Privatization and the Collapse of State Institutions under Mubarak”. She published recently an article about “Mafish Ta’lim: Why Egypt Ranked Last on Education” on the Mish ma32ool Blog.

What was surprising to you when you were a child? What is it that you always wanted to know about the world?

I think that from a young age I wanted to know why things that seemed so wrong, unjust or counterproductive happened and continued to exist. At the age of 17 I wrote a letter to a famous newspaper columnist with a lengthy critique of what I understood as the policies, conflicts of interest and corruption that created the poor and increasingly marketized condition of education I was experiencing. He actually published portions of my letter over three days in his column. In a sense, I was interested in the incentives and power relations that sustained the status quo. I was also starting to wonder about what it is that creates a will to resist. I wanted to understand why most people took little action to contest these corrupt practices. Is it ‘cultural’ as some might argue? Is it a kind of ‘learned helplessness’ based on repeated experiences of the futility – and often emotional and physical violence – that are associated with such acts of contestation?

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New publication: “Poverty, Markets and Elementary Education in India” by Geetha Nambissan

In her conference presentation Geetha Nambissan spoke about “Private Actors and Education for the Poor in India.” An extended version of this paper has now been published in the TRG Poverty & Education Working Paper Series on perspectivia.net.

Titelblatt Geetha NambissanIn “Poverty, Markets and Elementary Education in India” Geetha Nambissan discusses recent trends within the evolving low-cost unregulated schools market in India. She analyzes how private actors draw on neo-liberal discourses and construct new narratives, networks and practices around schooling in their attempts to influence Indian education policy. Highlighting that ‘good quality education’ for the poor is redefined in minimalistic terms to increase profits, she draws attention to the serious implications of these developments for social justice in education for the poor.

 

More information:

Geetha Nambissan: Poverty, Markets and Elementary Education in India .
In: Working Papers der Transnationalen Forschungsgruppe Indien der der Max Weber Stiftung “Armutsbekämpfung und Armenpolitik in Indien seit dem 19. Jahrhundert” Working Papers of the Max Weber Foundation’s Transnational Research Group India “Poverty Reduction and Policy for the Poor between the State and Private Actors: Education Policy in India since the Nineteenth Century”
URL: http://www.perspectivia.net/content/publikationen/trg-working-papers/nambissan_markets
Veröffentlicht am: 05.12.2014

 

 

“Right to Education and Equal Education Opportunities. A View from Berlin”: Discussion with Anja Schillhaneck

Anja Schillhaneck; photo: Anaïs Bordes under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Anja Schillhaneck; photo: Anaïs Bordes under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  
 

During the Winter Academy we invited Anja Schillhaneck, Vice President of the Berlin Parliament and Spokeswoman for Science, Sport, European and Federal Affairs for the parliamentary group of the green party “Bündnis 90/Die Grünen”, to share her expertise in the field of education policy with the participants.

In her presentation “Right to Education and Equal Education Opportunities. A View from Berlin” Anja Schillhaneck introduced the German education system and explained the particular challenges that arise from the three-tiered school system in terms of inequality and social mobility.

Discussion with Anja Schillhaneck; photo: Anaïs Bordes under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Discussion with Anja Schillhaneck; photo: Anaïs Bordes under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Drawing on her practical experience as a politician, she also discussed how recent reforms of the school system in Berlin try to increase the equality of education opportunities. During the lively discussion with the participants which covered various topics ranging from the “PISA shock” to university enrollment fees, Anja Schillhaneck provided interesting insights into current debates within German education policy.

You can also find a report by Anaïs Bordes on the discussion on Anja Schillhaneck’s website (available in German).