What can be gained by engaging in comparative education studies

What can be gained by engaging in comparative education studies It is in the very nature of logical activity to make comparisons. Comparing is a elementary part of thought process which enables us to make sense of the world and our experience of it. Indeed, it can be said that only by making comparisons can we properly defend our position on most questions of importance which requires the making of the judgments. Comparing causes us to make statements to the effect that one thing is intellectually or morally preferable to or more effective or better than the other, and this can be clearly exposed in the education field, where the quest for improvement for doing things better is always compelling. In a world which is mainly focused on intense global economic competition and growing beliefs in the key role of education as the source of potential advantage, governments have become increasingly obsessed with the international rankings of measured educational outcomes. Educational policy is increasingly driven by national attempts to copy the perceived advantage associated with the educational strategies and techniques of other countries. Margret Brown argues that documenting practices in high-scoring countries that give ideas for change are very important (as cited in Broadfoot 2000, p.361). It would be at least as important to find out why similar projects have not been successful in other countries. (Shorrocks-Taylor Jenkins 2000, p.16) It is crucial to assess any suggested practices from one country to another. Teachers and the general public need to be informed about the problems of putting something borrowed into practice and reform ideas from other countries to our own system. The increasing international importance of a policy discourse of learning in relation to conventional educational institutions such as schools and universities, reflects the contemporary understanding of the implication of the knowledge society (Broadfoot 2000, p.358); It is of great potential and inevitability for the whole population to be capable and disposed to take advantage of the new methods for accessing new knowledge that information and communications technology is making available. This also reflects the growing recognition that learning is not equivalent with teaching. Todays growing concern is lifelong learning which is powerfully described in a recent European Commission report: The Treasure Within. (Broadfoot 2000, p.358) Different perspective of comparative education by different scholars Antoine Jullien de Paris in 1817 saw comparative education as an analytical study of education in all countries with a view to perfect national schooling systems with adaptation and changes from which policymakers can borrow ideas to implement in their own-country (Bray 2007, p.1). In Hans view the utility of comparative education was that type of education which analyzes comparative law, comparative literature or comparative anatomy in order to highlights the differences in the forces and origins that create the differences in the educational systems (C.S. Oni 2005, p.244). Lewis approached the issue of comparative education in terms of an Island formation. Lewis asserted that, no country is an island; that each is a part of the world; therefore, no educational system anywhere in the world is worth anything unless it is comparable to some other systems in the world.(Quoted from C.S. Oni 2005, p.244). Comparative education for Blishen is the branch of educational theory that has to do with analyzing and interpreting the educational practices and policies in different countries and culture (C.S. Oni 2005, p. 244). Le Thanh Khoi believed that comparative education is a multidisciplinary area when he said that it is not strictly a discipline, but a field of study covering all the disciplines which serve to understand and explain education (quoted from Bray 2007, p. 35). In addition to learning about other people and cultures, comparative education also helps the researcher to know about oneself. As George Bereday puts it: It is self-knowledge born of the awareness of others that is the finest lesson comparative education can afford.(Quoted from Kubow Fossum 2003, p. 11). With the enhancement of nationalism and the increasing importance of the nation states in the beginning of the 19th century comparative education was pushed ahead. The objective was to learn useful lessons from foreign countries, especially concerning education systems. This contained a very colonialist view of the western societies on the foreign countries. School systems were seen as a resource of new educational ideas, which could be borrowed to improve the own school system. Comparative education transferred itself from highly pure description level to a more sophisticated analysis. With the rise of the social sciences in the 1950s the historical aspect became insignificant. Instead comparative education was introduced as a true science by using statistical techniques and more quantitative methods. The main approach was structural functionalism. The aims of comparative education: The aims of comparative education are to describe educational systems, processes, and ending products as well as to assist in the development of educational institutions and practices. It also highlights the relationships between education and society and establishes generalized statements about education that is valid in more than one country. Comparative education also deepens our understanding of our education and society; it can be of great aid to policy makers and administrators; and can be of great asset in the education of teachers (Bray 2007, p.15). Comparative research also helps us understand better our own past; locate ourselves more exactly in the present; and see more clearly what our educational future may be. Comparative education gives the researcher the ability to describe what might be the consequence of certain courses of political and economical action, by looking at experience in a range of countries. From the theories mentioned above extracted from different sch olars, we can see that comparative education facilitates the researchers to learn from the accomplishment and faults that other countries have made in the process of solving similar educational problems. The focal point of comparative study in education is the collection and categorization of information, both descriptive and quantitative. As Sadler stated in one of his lectures delivered in 1900: In studying foreign systems of education we should not forget that the things outside the schools matter even more than the things inside the school, and govern and interpret the things inside. We cannot wander at pleasure among the education systems of the world, like a child strolling through a garden, and picking flowers from one bush and some leaves from another, and then expect that if we stick what we have gathered into the soil at home, we shall have a living plant. A national education system of education is a living thing, the outcome of forgotten struggles and of battles long ago. It has in it some of the secret workings of national life. (Quoted from Philips in Alexander et. al 1999, p.19). On Comparing The comparative education researcher should go far from the familiar to see the unfamiliar to make the familiar strange, in order to broader the principles, geographical and epistemological view (Broadfoot 2000, p.363). When comparing in education researchers are producing a variety of descriptive and explanatory data which differ from micro to macro comparative data analysis, allowing us to see various practices and procedures in a very wide context that helps us to throw light upon them (Sultana as cited in Borg 2009, p.21). While less developed countries have a tendency to look at more developed countries to learn from them, more developed countries tent to look at countries that are on the same economic and educational level to make cross-national comparisons. Examples of this are number of countries that looked at USA as their model. Switzerland in mid-1990 apart from looking up to USA, it also hired American consultants to develop a reform package for schools (Steiner- Khamsi 2002, p.76 as cited in Bray 2007, p.18). On the other hand, America learned also from other countries (Levin 2010, p.96 in www.kappanmagazine.org) like East Asia, (Bray 2007, p.21-22) where the US department of education made an intensive study of Japanese education and came out with 12 principles of good practices. Educators and policy makers went to Finland, which is the top-performing country in the first three rounds of PISA, in order to find the key to education success to achieve high marks in PISA. Private companies like Cisco and McKinsey, are issuing reports on the quality of education around the world. Comparisons across time provide information about improvement or decline over the years like comparing the different periods in the history of education. These comparisons though are limited in the nature of the reference groups or criteria used: that is they are usually limited to school systems similar to those being evaluated. When policy makers look at the past to learn for the future as the British policy makers used to do in 1980s to make comparisons with their own past rather than with other countries. Sometimes the reason to compare with the predecessors is to see how the society has developed as well as to learn from the mistakes that were done in the past (Bray 2007, p.23, Bradburn Gilford 1990, p.2). Comparisons with other localities or between states, provincials and regions compare similar local educational systems within the same state, or with those in other states or the nation as a whole. Comparisons with other states or the nation as a whole have the advantage of comparing between educational systems that are broadly similar. They provide information on particular nations level of achievement in education to the much broader area of the worlds education system (Bradburn Gilford 1990, p.2).Example of such comparison is the comparison between the education systems of Hong Kong (Bray 2007, p.131) or the education systems of Macao (Bray 2007,p.134). When comparing the researcher has to identify the areas; countries or places, and cannot be generalised. As Le Than Khoi (in Sultana as cited in Borg 2009, p.16) gave the example of the Mediterranean. There are too many differences in the region that we call the Mediterranean to make it the object of comparative analyses. Culture is an important factor when comparing places. An example of this is the result that Finland got in the PISA in 2002 compared to other places which was based on the reading competences. Finland achieved well as it has centuries of cultural tradition that long promoted the reading ability (Bray 2007, p.167). A comparative education researcher must try not to be prejudiced either on political, national, religious, racial, gender or ideological aspects. It is crucial that the paradigms used are relevant to all geographic areas and nations that are included in the study. Differences between inter and intra-national research present challenges in comparative research that must be recognized. Such differences are often significant resource of cultural variation (Bradburn Gilford (1990), p.21). The contribution of developing countries in international studies adds information to the development of local research capacity and also widens the sample of participating countries. Third-world participation develops North South dialogues as well as East- West linkages as it serves as a good source for building trust and co-operation (Bradburn Gilford (1990), p.22). As the economic sector is increasing its value and the importance of having a sound education system, the business and industry sector may consult comparative educational studies in their international planning. Textbook publishers, developers of educational software and other educational traders use comparative education to categorize the needs and markets for new products. So the question raised is In whose interests do the education system and decisions taken, work? (My lecture notes). Though comparisons in education are of great benefit there are also who is sceptic and critic about it. There is the belief amongst these that comparative research will lead to a homogeneous-world approach to education that impede proper attention to each countrys unique history, culture, and people.(Bray 2007, p.178). This idea comes from experiences with international institutions that forced economic policies that had negative consequences in less-developed countries. It is vital for policy makers to keep in mind that not all the methods of any country can or should be put into practice in other countries. (Lavin 2010, p.96 in www.kappanmagazine.org, Stromquist 2002, p.87) It is important that insiders and outsiders work collaboratively in order to research and development work that is more sensitive to local, social constructions of reality. (Crossley 2002, p.82) Education research projects and organizations: As global economic competition increases, increases also the beliefs in the education as the source of marginal advantage, governments have become increasingly obsessed with the international rankings of measured educational outcomes. However the issue and impact of power on the educational institutions differentiate form in society to another. It is becoming important more than ever as the decision making in education is changing considerably. The main actors are no longer those most affected by education like the students, parents and the teachers but rather private agencies and international financial institutions (Stromquist 2002, p.87). International agencies compare patterns and results in different countries in order to improve the advice that they give to national governments and policy makers. The UNESCO, World Bank and OECD are amongst international agencies each emphasising their own aims varying from pedagogy, curriculum, economic and financial matters, which play an important part in the education arena. Their aim is to assist countries in designing and implementing successful policies to address the challenges that the educational systems are facing. They also create schemes for promoting lifelong learning in relation with other socio-economic policies (Bray 2007, p. 31). New ideas gained from international studies such as PISA, TIMMS and Survey -Lang can be tried to see if they will improve the education system and to understand why the performance of students in different countries differs (Shorrocks-Taylor Jenkins 2000). Since the late 1950s with the founding of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) such large scale comparative studies have taken on considerable significance in education. From the beginning the IEA has been committed to studying learning in the basic school subjects and to conducting on a regular basis survey of educational achievement. Over time, these outcome data have been increasingly linked to analyses of the effects of curriculum and school organization upon learning and the relationship between achievement and pupil attitudes (Shorrocks- Taylor 2000, p.14). There are different methods on how to measure the comparative aspect which differs from theoretical grounded studies intended to build or test complex models of educational systems to descriptive studies whose purpose is to monitor different features of educational systems, practices and outcomes. The purpose of theoretically oriented studies is mainly to examine relationships among variables and look for casual explanations. It is designed to examine links between school achievement and such characteristics as curricula, teaching methods, family expectations and funding levels. These highlight the level of differences between schools or classes as well as on differences between students as the unit of analysis. (Bradburn Gilford 1990, p.5) Belatedly, the intensification of international competition, spurred on by globalization, neo-liberalism and marketizing, has major implications for cross-national studies of educational achievement, for those engaged in or dealing with the powerful influence of national and international league tables, and for the theoretical frameworks that we employ in our analyses. If the funding of research is increasingly linked to commercial interests, for example, the potential for critical theory, or for alternative cultural perspectives to influence the construction of new knowledge, may be increasingly challenged. Questions of power and whose knowledge counts?, in the process of development arise, perhaps, more strongly than ever before ( reference from my lecture notes). As Sultana stated, comparative education should go further than the concern with comparing like with like (Sultana as cited in Borg 2009, p.9). It focuses more on finding a particular point from where educational and related social phenomenon can be seen from different perspectives; create a deeper understanding of the dynamics as well come up with new ideas. Comparative education provides insights on higher education, educational innovation, teacher education, power and education researches each bringing the experience of the researchers country, or the country or the countries that researcher has studied and came together in order to share these issues in debating sessions. Comparative education and globalization: In a globalise world, schools have come under greater national enquiry regarding the ways they can contribute to or delay a national progress. Claxton (1998) has described the rapidly-changing times we are living as the Age of Uncertainty in which it is impossible to predict the state and shape of the world in few years time (as cited in Broadfoot 2000, p. 358). The educational world today encounters systems which may eventually prove to be a revolution in what is to be taught, to whom and how, since, as Edmund King implies, all its established systems were developed for a world that no longer exists (quoted in Broadfoot p.267). Accountability and educational transformation rose questioning on the education process itself. The heightened interest in and concern over education has encouraged educators to re-evaluate in the light of new global realities, the purpose of schooling, the underlying theories about the relationship between education and development and questioning about educator professionalism. (Watson as cited in Crossley 2002, p.81) The ways in which educators in different countries view these issues and the strategies employed to address them must be understood in the light of different cultural, social and political context in each country. By viewing the educational issue from the perspective of two diverse countries the researcher can identify factor that might be missed when viewing the issue within the context of own country alone. If the research area is related to researchers own cultural environment, it is not always easy to perceive its special characteristics. The case may appear too understandable and non-problematic. A fish cannot see that it is living in water (quoted in http://www2.uiah.fi/projects/metodi/172.htm). Multiple cultural perspectives thinking and analytic frameworks from a multiplicity of disciple the research would provide an international context as well as tools for opening perspective to enhance the way of seeing education. Critical thinking on Comparative education: Comparative education and the critical perspective taking that comparative inquiry, help the researcher to go into a deeper analysis of the relationship among society, development, education and the role that citizens either directly or indirectly play in the education process. Through the development of comparative thinking skills researchers should be able to undertake analyses of their home cultures and systems with a more understanding of the various cultural factors at play. Comparative education encourages both researchers and educators to ask questions like: What kind of educational policies, planning and teaching are appropriate and for what kind of society? The field of comparative education focuses attention on what might be appropriate and inappropriate policy while encourage awareness of philosophies underlying educational policies and encourages interdisciplinary critique. (Klein 1990, 1996, Epstein 1983 as cited in Kubow Fossum 2003, p.7). Comparative education is beneficial and necessary not only for scholars and policy makers but for education practitioners as well. As Gutek said, teachers function in two dimensions: as citizens of particular nation-states, they foster students national identity; and second as citizens of a global society, they recognize that possibilities of humans growth and threats to human survival going beyond national boundaries (Gutek 1993 as cited in Kubow Fossum 2003, p.251). Teachers must learn to look at other equivalent classroom and school practices throughout the world. As Stake (1978) said we observe that people intrinsically pursue the general by looking at the specific. People make sense out of the new circumstances they encounter by comparing that particulars to the universe that includes their own frames of reference. We have named the process of performing cross-cultural investigation and then deriving insights from these investigations the skills of comparative perspective takin g (quoted in Kubow Fossum 2003, p.252). Schools are compared with arenas which constitute tension and combination of forces. In order to understand and control such condition, involves critical skills and the ability to understand the political underlining of societal and educational circumstances (Kaplan 1991 as cited in Kubow Fossum 2003, p. 252). These kinds of critical thinking can promote critical questions like: What is the intention of schooling? What are the equitable education and who decides? What is the appropriate balance between educator authority and accountability? What factors reinforce or hinder teacher professionalism? (Quoted from Kubow Fossum 2003, p. 252). The field of comparative education continues to define its identity and significance in the new thinking about education, society, colonialism and development. Ideas from post-foundational thinking, post-modernism, post-structuralism and post-colonialism, are of great importance in comparative research because they deal with common metanarratives of progress, modernity, dominance and subordination that there have been the fulcrum of the main ideas in comparative education.(Mehta Ninnes 2003, p.238), Crossley 2002, p.82). Examples of Case studies: Case study 1: Comparing literacy The usefulness of comparative education is seen in the number of different case studies. An example of a case study is Literacy skills in Maltese-English bilingual children by Rachael Xuereb (2009). The study examines the reading and phonological awareness skills in English and Maltese of children whose mother tongue is Maltese and second language English. A sample of 50 typically developing Maltese children aging between 8 years 0 months to 10 years 5 months was chosen to participate in this study. The children acquired Maltese as a first language within the family and later acquired English as a second language through Kindergarten and/or the early school years. The participants in this study attend a church school situated in the south-western part of the island. Since children star going to school at the age of 5 years, the children have been learning to read in Maltese and also in English. For the purpose of this study, Maltese reading and reading-related tests were created to parallel the UK and US standardised assessments. All the children sat for the novel tests and the standardised tests. According to the results found by Xuereb, Maltese children read better in Maltese than in English, which is the language of instruction in most of the subjects. Each child was tested on the following measures in both languages: word and non word reading, non word repetition, spelling, segmenting words and non words elision, rapid naming of letters, numbers and colours, forward memory for digits. Increasing research has addressed this issue for bilingual students, in relationship to whether phonological awareness in the first language predicts phonological awareness in the second language (Quiroga, Lemos-Britton, Mostafapour, Abbott Berninger, 2002). Studies comparing first language and second language decoding skills in readers of different orthographies suggest that these skills are positively correlated and that individual differences in the development of these skills can be predicted on the basis of underlying cognitive and linguistic abilities such as phonological skills, memory, orthographic knowledge and speed of processing (Geva Wade-Woolley, 1998 as cited in Xuereb 2009, p.331). This study aimed to find answer for how do Maltese-English bilingual children perform on reading and phonological tasks and to verify whether prior findings of cross-language transfer from first language phonological awareness to reading or to second language phonological awareness be replicated in this sample of Maltese-speaking students. Case study 2: Comparing the role of gender and age on students perceptions towards online education. This study conducted by Fahme Dabaj, and Havva BaÃ…Å ¸ak, was conducted in order to question and analyze the perceptions and attitudes of the students to online distance education by means of email and the World Wide Web as the method of delivering instruction through on-line diploma programs offered by Sakarya University in Turkey with respect to their age and gender. The research was based on a questionnaire as a mean of data collection method. The findings of the analysis explained that although the students registered to the online program by will, they preference was for the traditional face-to-face education due to the difficulty of the nonverbal communication, their lack of ability in using the technology required, and their belief in traditional face-to face learning more than online education. The research methodology of this study used the quantitative statistical methods and techniques such as significance differences, correlation and the cross-tabulation distribution to find out if there is a significant relationship between the independent and the dependent variable questions, measuring the role of age and gender of students towards their perceptions regarding distant education. The quantitative data was collected by survey questionnaire and was analyzed via quantitative statistical methods. All the students enrolled in the distance education programs and the online courses in the autumn term of the 2005/2006 Academic Year took part in the research. Regarding gender, the results proofed that the female students have a better awareness of the online education contrasting to the male students. Regarding age, the results showed that the older the students preference moves towards attending face-to face classes. Case study 3: Comparing different Art methodologies. I also attempted to make a small comparative study in which I compared Art methodology adopted in a state school compared with that adopted by the Verdala International School. The Verdala International is a co-ed international school in which foreign students resident in Malta can attend. The Art department in this school in based on two Art Programs; the IG which is equivalent to O level exam and the IB which is equivalent to the A level exam. My research was aimed at bringing out the difference in teachers and students approach towards the subject. The first difference which I pointed out was the level of organization in the state schools Art room in comparison with the organized chaos that ruled in the Verdala International. Both teachers response to my comments about the Art room environment was that it reflects the methodology they adopt towards the subject. Art lessons in the state school are more structured; students have to follow rules which hinder them from using their imagination freely. In both schools the lessons where introduced in the same manner there was a lot of teacher talk with the teacher orchestrating the whole thing. The children were only asked to participate when the teacher asked them for suggestions. The two lessons differed in the way they developed while in the state school, the students followed the traditional method by copying the teachers examples from the whiteboard and were very limited in experimentation, at Vedala international the students were much freer to experiment and be creative. The reason was that although the Art syllabi of both schools are very similar, the methodology adopted is different. The teacher at the state school believes that in order to break the rules in Art first the student has to learn them by using the traditional method by copying. While Art lessons at the state school are more exams oriented, although at Verdala International they do have an end of year test, the focus is more on helping students develop creative ideas. During my observation sessions at the state school, which were carried out in the beginning of November, the teacher consistently reminded the students about the exam. On the other hand at Verdala International the final test was never mentioned. At the Verdala International I also tried to compare Maltese students who have been to a state school and are now attending Verdala International with foreign students who had been attending to Art classes in their own countries are now at Verdala. The aim of such comparison was to identify students perspectives of the methodologies used for the teaching of Art in Malta and abroad. The foreign students interviewed were from Italy, USA, Sweden, Germany, Russia and England. From the response given it resulted that the conservative Art methodology used in Maltese state schools is very similar to that in Russia and in the early years of the middle school in Germany. Lessons at Verdala International are more similar to those in Italy where the students are active participants and able to take decisions on what they should do. While in state schools every lesson planned out by the teacher following the syllabus that is to be covered, at Verdala International the lesson is in the form of a group discussion. Each student decides on a theme that he/she would like work on and the teacher will facilitate his learning. This way, different students might be working on different projects unlike in state schools where everyone would be doing the same thing. Maltese students prefer more the methodology used at the Verdala International than the Art methodology used in the state school. The research methodology of this study consisted of observation sessions, interviews with students both on individual bases and in groups, and interviews with four teachers (one at Verdala International and 3 at state school). The number of students that took part in this study was 45 students (22 at Verdala International and 23 at state school). Conclusion The comparative education area is composed by what researchers declare about its nature, origins, purposes, futures, by the truths people support and by the struggle over what made true comparative education (Mehta Ninnes 2003, p.240). The significance in studying this area using intellectual accuracy, the working and foreign systems of education will result in our better fitted to study and understand our own while helps to extend and d

Icici Bank and Bank of Rajasthan Merger Essay

Meaning : A general term used to refer to the consolidation of companies. A merger is a combination of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another in which no new company is formed. Basic information of icici bank (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank): ICICI Bank was established by the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India, an Indian financial institution, as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1994. The parent company was formed in 1955 as a joint-venture of the World Bank, India’s public-sector banks and public-sector insurance companies to provide project financing to Indian industry.[10][11] The bank was initially known as theIndustrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank, before it changed its name to the abbreviated ICICI Bank. The parent company was later merged with the bank. Current information: Based on 2013 information, it is the second largest bank in India by assets and third largest by market capitalisation. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customer through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries in the areas of investment banking. life and non-life insurance, venture capital and asset management. The Bank has a network of 3,350 branches and 10,486 ATM’s in India, and has a presence in 19 countries. ICICI Bank is one of the big four banks of India, along with SBI,PNB,CANARA BANK BANK OF RAJASTHAN : It was set up at Udaipur in 1943 with an initial capital of Rs.10.00 lacs. An eminent Industrialist Late Seth Shri Govind Ram Seksaria was the founder chairman. It was classified as the Scheduled Bank in 1948. The Bank also established a rural (Gramin) bank Mewar Anchlik Gramin Bank in Udaipur District in Rajasthan on 26 January 1983. The bank’s central office is located at Jaipur, although its registered office is in Udaipur. Presently the bank has 463 branches, in 24 states, with 294 of the branches being in Rajasthan. †¢ 1. Merger of ICICI and BoR Submitted †¢ 2. About BoR and Merger private sector lender Bank of Rajasthan on 18 may 2010 agreed to merge with ICICI Bank, India’s second largest private sector lender Bank of Rajasthan has a market value of $296 million The acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan by ICICI bank is the first consolidation of country’s crowded banking sector since 2008.ICICI Bank and Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) boards on Sunday cleared their merger through an all-share deal, valued at about 30.41 billion rupees. †¢ 3. ICICI offered to BoR ICICI offered to pay 188.42 rupees per share, in an all-share deal, for Bank of Rajasthan, a premium of 89 percent to the small lender’s closing price on Tuesday, valuing the business at $668 million .ICICI is offering the smaller bank’s controlling shareholders 25 shares in ICICI for 118 shares of Bank of Rajasthan. †¢ 4. The Big Deal The deal, which will give ICICI a sizeable presence in the northwestern desert state of Rajasthan, values the small bank at about 2.9 times its book value, compared with an Indian banking sector average of 1.84.Bank of Rajasthan has a network of 463 branches and a loan book of 77.81 billion rupees ($1.7 billion). †¢ 5. Why MergerIn March, the Reserve Bank of India appointed consulting firms to conduct a special audit of the books and accounts of Bank of Rajasthan .The government has called for consolidation in the banking sector in order to make lenders more competitive but there has been little activity.RBI had imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakh on Bank of Rajasthan for various violations. †¢ 6. Totals of BoR F or the nine-month ended December’09, the bank had net loss of Rs 9 crore with total income of Rs 1,086 crore. For the year ended March’09, Bank of Rajasthan had net profit of Rs 117 crore with total income of Rs 1,507 crore .Operating income fell 11% to Rs 373.78 crore in Q3 December 2009 over Q3 December 2008. †¢ 7. Advantage for ICICI and BoR ICICI Bank will gain marginally from the merger as Bank of Rajasthan has a reasonable penetration in its home state. As of March’09, it had 463 branches across the country. The deal will also help ICICI tackle increasing competition by HDFC Bank. the deal values BoR at about 2.9 times its book value, compared with an Indian banking sector average of 1.84. †¢ 8. Comparison OF ICICI and BoRICICI bank added CASA deposits totaling over 210 billion rupees in the year ended March 2010, compared with 41.63 billion rupees of BoR .ICICI recorded a business per branch of 3 billion rupees compared with 47 million rupees of BoR for fiscal 2009.For the quarter ended Dec 09, BoR recorded 1.05 percent of advances as NPA’s, which is far better than 2.1 percent recorded by ICICI Bank. †¢ 9. Why is RBI allowing the merger of this bank? This is very intriguing factor; when RBI claims that there is corporate governance. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee claims that there is corporate governance prevailing in SEBI, RBI and Finance Ministry. †¢ 10. Hurdles To protest the Bank of Rajasthan’s management plan to merge with the ICICI Bank, more than 4200 employees of Bank of Rajasthan went on a two-day countrywide strike .SEBI maintains that Tayals hold 55% in the bank and that would make them owners of nearly 1.87 crore ICICI Bank shares from new dilution by ICICI Bank, amounting to around 1.75% stake in the bank .ICICI Bank found it economic as always to invest in this deal on a 100% stock swap basis. †¢ 11. Impact of the Deal The deal is very expensive The proposed amalgamation would substantially enhance branch network and presence in  northern and western India for ICICIBank of Rajasthan has a network of 463 branches and a loan book of 77.81 billion rupees ($1.7 billion).As on March 2009, BoR had 463 branches and 111 ATMs, total assets of Rs 17,224 crore, deposits of Rs 15,187 crore and advances of Rs 7,781 crore. †¢ 12. ICICI After merger PE ratio22.97 10/06/10EPS (Rs)36.10 Mar, 10Sales (Rs crore)5,826.98 Mar, 10Face Value (Rs)10 Net profit margin (%)9.74 Mar, 09Last dividend (%)120 26/04/10Return on average equity7.58 Mar, 09 1 millions = 10 lakhs 1 billions = 100 crores 1 trillions = 100,000 crores

To the Lighthouse Symbolism

To the Lighthouse Summary: Part 1: The Window The novel starts in the Ramsays' summer home. Mr Ramsay tells to the family that will take them to the Lighthouse on the next day but it wasn’t possible due to bad weather. This makes a certain tension between James the son of the family and his father because he really wants to get to the Lighthouse. In this part Lily Briscoe attempts to paint a portrayal of Mrs Ramsay and her son James. Part 2: Time passes This second part gives the feeling of time passing and also death. Ten years pass, during which the four-year  First World War  begins and ends and also Mrs Ramsay passes away.Part 3: The Lighthouse In the final part the remaining members of the Ramsay family return to their summer house ten years after part 1. Mr Ramsay finally decides to keep his word and take his son James and his daughter Camila to the Lighthouse. In this section Lily attempts to finally complete the painting that she started in part 1. Upon finishing t he painting (and at the same time the sailing boat of Ramsay family reaches the lighthouse) and seeing that it satisfies her, she realizes that the execution of her vision is more important to her than the idea of leaving some sort of legacy in her work.Symbolism of the Lighthouse. Before launching into what Virginia Woolf might be talking about Lighthouse I’m going to take a few seconds to explain you what it is. The meaning of Lighthouse it refers to beacon it's something people who are lost can look towards for guidance and the light it moves around. When the night falls, it flashes on, and when the sun rises, it shuts off. So a lighthouse works as both a symbol of  stability  (as a beacon) and of  change  (as its lights go on and off with the turning of the day).Now, about this specific Lighthouse. We know that it's visible from the Ramsays' summer home but separated from it by a stretch of sea. And we know that, at least at first, James Ramsay  really  wants to get there – so much that when Mr. Ramsay says they won't be able to sail to the Lighthouse the next day, James Ramsay  goes very mad. But the Lighthouse also is a symbol for Traditional Family Structure. One important thing they share in common is that they're both guys. Another important thing is that they're both really into Mrs. Ramsay.Sure, one's her husband and the other's her son, but they feel they have to compete with each other for her attention. All this leads us to a roundabout way, the Lighthouse is potentially a symbol for family structure, and especially for the authority of the father in the traditional family. So the lighthouse is kind of a phallic symbol, and phallic symbols in literature often mean that there are daddy issues coming down the pike. In other words James and Mr. Ramsay are squabbling over who gets power over the family: Mr. Ramsay is the authority figure, so he gets to say â€Å"No! he weather will be bad! † And James is a rebel who 's all â€Å"Why  do you have to ruin  everything? In conclusion I have talked about the Lighthouse as a symbol for family authority and how control over getting to the Lighthouse has a lot to do with family power. But like the Lighthouse tower itself, the family as an institution is solid and unchanging. But individual families come and go as rapidly as a lighthouse of a beacon goes on and off – time changes the shape of all families. All families have their upon and down. Bibliography To The Lighthouse (Sparknotes Literature Guide). Edition: 2003

The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini - 1561 Words

According to the new data from UNICEF, fifty seven percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls that are under sixteen. In Afghanistan, located in the southern Helmand province, as many as 144 forced marriages were reported. In particular, farmers have been forced to abandon their daughters to the creditor as pay off for his debts. After the daughter is sold, she would be forced into marriage with anyone the creditor chose. This pertained to girls that were six years old or some even younger. These types of marriages were deemed valid in Afghan society and were quite frequent as well. In the novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a man named Amir has an arduous time trying to deal with his past as he moves from Afghanistan to America. The text cites several examples of how some types of marriages were forbidden in Afghanistan. Common marriages are comprised of forced marriages, arranged marriages and love marriages in Afghan society. In Afghan society, a forced marriage is wh en either the man or women is married against one’s will. This includes childhood brides and young women who are sold from their family in order to pay off debt. Adolescents that are forced into marriages in Afghanistan are consistently mistreated and abused in their households. In the article â€Å"Afghanistan: Women, Socially Bound and Officially Neglected†, it states how an Afghan practice called ‘baad’ has killed a 7-year-old victim. The girl had been given into marriage and was used as a slaveShow MoreRelatedThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini883 Words   |  4 Pagesregret from past encounters and usually feel guilty and bitter about the situation. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini, revolves around the theme of redemption. Redemption can be used as a cure for guilt. Throughout the novel, the author shows that redemption requires some sort of sacrifice and the only way that is possible is if you can forgive yourself from the mistakes you have made in the past. Khaled Hosseini effectively portrays redemption through motifs such as rape, irony and flashbacks, symbolismRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1651 Words   |  7 Pages  Ã‚  Ã‚   The novel â€Å"The Kite Runner† by Khaled Hosseini describes the life of a boy, Amir. Amir’s best friend and brother (although that part isn’t known until towards the end), Hassan, plays a major role in Amir’s life and how he grows up. Hosseini portrays many sacrifices that are made by Hassan and Amir. Additionally, Amir seeks redemption throughout much of the novel. By using first person point of view, readers are able to connect with Amir and understand his pain and yearning for a way to be redeemedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1655 Words   |  7 PagesSarah Singer Major Works Data Form Title: The Kite Runner Author: Khaled Hosseini Date of Publication: 2003 Genre: Historical Fiction Historical information about the period of publication: Since the September 11th attacks in 2001, the United States has been at war with Afghanistan. Their goals were to remove the Taliban, track down those in charge of the attacks, and destroy Al-Qaeda. Biographical information about the author: Khaled Hosseini was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1965. HIs motherRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1098 Words   |  5 PagesIn The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, we learn a lot about Amir the main character, and Hassan his servant/brother. In the beginning Hassan and Amir’s relationship was one of brotherly love despite the fact that Hassan was a Hazara and Amir a Pashtun. Back in the 1970’s race and religion played a big part in Kabul and these two races were not suppose to have relationships unless it was owner (Pashtun) and servant (Hazara). Baba Amir’s father had an affair with Hassan’s mother, but it was kept aRead MoreThe Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini1313 Words   |  5 Pagesis not unique to just J.K. Rowling. Khaled Hosseini also incorporates life experiences into some of his novels. A prime example of this is The Kite Runner. The storyline of this novel reflects his past to create a journey of a young Afghanistan boy, whose name is Amir. This boy changes drastically throughout his lifetime from a close minded, considerably arrogant boy to an open hearted and minded man. This emotional and mental trip is partially based on Khaled Hosseini’s own life. Throughout Hosseini’sRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1908 Words   |  8 Pages​In the novel, â€Å"The Kite Runner†, written by Khaled Hosseini, was taken place in Afghanistan during the 1970’s to the year of 2002. Many historical events happened during this time period and Hosseini portrayed it into his novel. Kabul, the capitol of Afghanistan, was a free, living area for many Afghanistan families to enjoy the life they were given. Until one day, Afghanistan was then taken over and attacked. In the novel, Amir, the protagonist, must redeem himself and the history behind his actionsRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1050 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"There is a way to be good again.† (Hosseini 334). This quote given by Rahim Khan to Amir holds a great amount of force and symbolism. In theory, this quote symbolizes the beginning of Amir’s path to redemption. The eye-opening Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini tells about the struggles of Afghanistan before and during the Taliban, and one’s struggle for redemption and acceptance. With regards to the opening quote, some see Amir’s actions as selfish. However, others may believe that Amir truly changedRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini1583 Words   |  7 Pagesnovel the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Amir, the main character, shares his thoughts and actions due to his poor decisions. The problems he encountered were all because of the sin committed in his youth. His sins taunted the beginning of his life and gave him a troublesome memory full of guilt. As the novel continued, Amir attempted to disengage the memory of his sin and forget about it. Amir then faced the long bumpy road to redemption. Khaled Hosseini’s novel the Kite Runner is about sinRead MoreThe Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini871 Words   |  4 Pagesthat person is trying to fix that mistake. This also applies to the novel The Kite Runner. The story revolves around the main character Amir, and his childhood friend, Hassan. After Amir came to America with Baba, his father, he still regrets the things he had done to his childhood friend. He left Hassan getting raped by Assef in a small alley in 1975. Thereafter, Amir always feel regret and seeks for redemption. Hosseini -the author, argues that redemption can be achieved by helping others, teachRead MoreThe Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini3402 Words   |  14 Pagestitle â€Å"The Kite Runner† is symbolic as fighting kites and the kite runnings are impacting moments in the novel. Hassan was the best kite runner in Kabul, if not the whole country, after Amir won the kite fighting the running of that last blue kite triggered the monumental changes for Amir. For the beginning of the story the kite running was associated with Hassan’s rape and Amir’s grief. As kites appear throughout the story, they begin Amir’s story and also end it. Amir flying the kite with Sohrab