Suggestions for the Ministry of Education, Board of Examiners.

AgtSP  Paoho. After the Noida meetings we were intransit in Spain with very strong program at the university of Madrid's "Center for the Science of Religion" with Yadu Maharaja, then 12-hours in the airplane from Madrid to Lima. Here has been this symposium on "Education and the Sacred". Radhika-ramana Das came and brought his whole family, President of the oldest university in the Western hemisphere, San Marcos, United Nations Committee members etc.

Very good opportunity and great necessity for showing our educational heritage and actual application.

In the middle of all this chaos we have been constantly chewing the basic strategy for the BOEX that we were getting while in NOIDA etc.  Of course we have been discussing it again and again with Prof. Radhika, Montessori, Waldorf, Jesuit.

From this perspective it seems that a good way to go ahead with the Bh Vai etc would be to develop an automated, online, multiple choice, evaluation system for each Canto. Of course the computer can adjust the test interms of the applicants answers and language, nation etc. With good multiple choice questions we could really get some good evaluation of the applicants.

Then, for each Canto there we could offer a series of essay questions with details of what the answers should include and of course readers could be collecting their notes as they go.

These then would be examined by qualified Examiners. A basic standard could be that the applicants come to a center such as Houston once a year etc. and then they are given like 3 out of the 15 essay questions to present orally during one hour before the Examiner(s) and hopefully a broader audience. The Examiners can ask relevant questions, all videotaped and the evaluation done.

So, what we are proposing as an immediate goal is an automated online evaluation system along with essays and notes that the student would present orally with questions from qualified Examiners.

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The Boex would need to qualify the Examiners. Of course, a lot of the Teacher Qualifications would apply. Might even make it a requirement that Bh. Vedanta students have to examine and evaluate a certain number of Bh. Vai candidates as a requirement for their Bh. Ved. diploma.

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Simple qualifications for taking the examination, again like th California Bar examination. As we discussed maybe three letters of recommendation from ISKCON authorities et al. Of course, developing a good questionaire for the Recomenders to answer. A good relationship with them. Candidate not sanctioned by the Office of Child Protection. Notification by the BOEX of all those who are applying to take the Examination a few months before the exam with special letter to the Temples, Yatra, wherein they are claiming to be associated.

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Of course, this would just be something that we could roll out within a practical time frame and it would be know that we want help to develop a broader system.

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We feel that developing teachers and teaching centers should be seen as a related job. Not exactly under the authority of the BOEX. Of course, many BOEX members could, would be involved in this institution also. What we would suggest is that the evaluation system be always available to the teachers, schools, and be fluid relation with them. Many teachers might naturally be evaluators. This seems to fall in line a lot with what we were discussing in NOIDA that many people may be able to teach the Bhagavata, so encourage that, and facing a practical system of evaluation would give them sufficient institutional requirements to standardize their work.

What the BOEX could implement immediately would be that in the online evaluation there could be a question did you study, graduate from one of the following Sastric Studies institutes and they could select one from the list of the ones registered from us and then we could publish the success rate in passing the exam of the different institutes.

Eg. Vihe 85% success passing first time, MI 87%, Vidyapitha, 91%, ISKCON Timbuktoo 61%.

Did you pass the California Bar Examination?

Yes first time.

Did you study with an institution?

Yes.

Was it a university, did you get a Doctor of Jurisprudence Diploma?

No, it was more specialized with focus on the diploma.

Oh (Pooh! Pooh!).

I graduated with Doctor of Juris. from Stanford, Bolt Hall at U. C. Berkeley! (Puff! Puff!)

Oh, you must have got a lot good professional contacts!

Yes.

O.K. These are our thoughts now.

We could go through the Cantos pretty well and get good esay questions and multiple choice questions. One essay might be, "Give us 25-new questions".