Excellence is Not a Destination but a Journey! An Interview with Jacob Tharu

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This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Seminars and conference presentations

• ‘Need based curriculum development - the role of evaluation’. National Seminar on Language and Technical Education, Curriculum Development Centre, IIT, Kanpur, 1986.

• ‘Testing English at different levels: the problem of appropriate standards’. Keynote address at Question Bank Workshop, Staff Selection Commission, Delhi, 1991.

• Multi-level Proficiency Scales in Multilingual Settings. Keynote address at the 1995 Dunford Seminar on ‘Language Skills and National Curriculum Development.

• ‘Examinations in English at the post-secondary stage – an overview’. Seminar on Language Testing. University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate & British Council, Delhi, 1996.

• ‘New Directions in assessing learning – a challenge in the context of vocationalization’. Seminar on ‘Learning to work - School reforms’, Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education, Panaji, 1996.

• ‘Rediscovering Evaluation's Mission in Education; Possibilities in the Language Curriculum.’ Keynote address at the annual Regional English Language Centre Conference, Singapore,1999.

• ‘A view of English as our resource not their prized possession’, Keynote address at National Seminar on Issues in Evaluation of English Language and Literature, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College, Delhi, 2001.

• ‘Beginning with the empowerment of ELT experts themselves.’ National Seminar on Empowerment in English Language Learning and Teaching, Regional Institute of English (Bangalore), 2003.

• ‘English in the lower primary grades: Going beyond Whole Language to a Whole Child perspective. National Seminar on English Language and the Young Learner. Regional Institute of English (Bangalore), 2004.

• ‘Educational testing in/and the language curriculum. National Seminar on English Language Education. Regional Institute of English (Bangalore), 2005.

Special assignments

• Member of a 2-person team commissioned by the Overseas Development Agency (UK) for a summative evaluation of KELT-British Council Projects at four Universities in South India, 1990, [* with Dr. Alan Davies, Edinburgh University].

• University Grants Commission, Visiting Fellow (short term) at

  • Centre for Advanced Studies in Linguistics, Osmania University, Hyderabad, 1992.

  • Dept. of English, MS University, Baroda, Gujarat, 1993.

• Joint Leader of the British Council Returned Study Fellows Seminar on ‘Evaluation of ELT Programmes’, Delhi, 1993.

• Chairperson, National Expert Group on Evaluation in Elementary Education, NCERT, (2006–2008).

• Member Advisory Board for establishing the Centre for English Language and Communication Skills, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Kerala. 2007–2009.

• Chairperson, Committee on Examination Reforms, Kerala State Higher Education Council, (2009–2010).

• Chairperson, Committee on Examination Reform, Working Group for preparation of State Curriculum Framework, SCERT, Andhra Pradesh (2010–).

• Member, Advisory Committee, and consultant for monitoring, SATCOM Project for English Enrichment in Tribal Schools, UNNATI and Tribal Welfare Department, Ahmedabad, Gujarat (2010–).

• Member. Steering Committee for revision of English syllabus and textbooks (I–VIII). Govt. of Rajasthan (SIERT, Udaipur) (2011–13).