Articles by M R Ravi

on record to say that 80,000 will have to move or, worse, even give up their studies.
Numerous analysts and academicians feel that the education ministry is doing precisely what the French government and many conservatives want: rolling back the decentralising reforms granted to students in 1968. Last summer the required number of classroom, hours for advanced degrees were hiked. Many professors and students say that the government itself is perpetuating an elitist structure. They refer to the Grand Ecoles system consisting of the Polytechni- que, the Ecole Normale Superieure and the Ecole Nationale d'Administra- tion all of which serve more or less as finishing schools for future guardians of the State. Entrance to these schools are tightly restricted and highly competitive and the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) is the most prestigious and influential. Entrants to the ENA invariably come from the grande bourgeoisie or from the wider middle class and acceptance means automatically a career as a senior civil servant. Graduates become Prefects, Diplomats, administrative judges and enter the top echelons of the finance ministry. They steer the ship of State and usually remain firmly anchored to it. Only a minority leave the ENA to enter the private industry.