V. Anand

Nov 11, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | V. Anand |Vaishna Roy |Zakia Soman |Muqtedar Khan

The 2024 summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held from September 4 to 6 in Beijing, has reinforced China’s geopolitical clout over Africa. The FOCAC, which was established in 2000, holds triennial summits. The theme of the ninth summit was “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future”.

Jul 10, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | V. Anand |M. Suresh Babu |Anuj Behal |Greeshma Kuthar

Central examinations are a way of measuring performance, usually against certain predefined standards, and are intended to provide information on how individual students perform relative to the national or regional student population. Given that education itself is fraught with agency problems in developing economies, the role performed by central examinations may be pivotal to how the education system works.

Jul 9, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | Furqan Qamar |V. Anand |M. Suresh Babu |Anuj Behal

The National Testing Agency’s (NTA) fiasco this year has assumed such astronomical proportions that the Ministry of Education (MoE) had to look for a space scientist to lead a high-powered committee to inquire into it and suggest measures to avert such debacles in the future. The controversies involving the NTA raise doubts about its ability to efficiently conduct the eligibility-cum-entrance examinations for admissions into higher education programmes in the country.

Jul 8, 2024 | frontline.thehindu.com | V. Anand |V. Arasu |Aditya Sondhi |Madhulika Liddle

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s six-day visit to Europe in May, when he returned after five years for his first post-pandemic visit, covered France, Serbia, and Hungary, that is, western, central, and eastern Europe. China is commemorating 75 years of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), so this diplomatic outreach by Xi has special significance for the country’s foreign policy.