Charuchandra Bhandari (19 October 1896 – 24 June 1985) was a prominent Indian freedom fighter, lawyer, politician, and follower of Gandhian philosophy. He played a significant role in the Indian independence movement, especially in South Bengal and the Sundarbans, and later worked to promote social reform movements like Sarvodaya and Bhoodan in West Bengal. In this research paper life and activities of Charu Chandra Bhandari has been analysed with the help of the primary and secondary sources.

ABSTRACT On the remote Orkney Islands off the North Coast of Scotland, there stand the remnants of a stone ellipse, The Standing Stones of Stennes. Not fully a circle, the massive Neolithic stones date from 3000 to 2900 BCE. In spite of the depredations of time the moss covered, granite columns soar proudly in the landscape. Some four decades after his death, it can be said that the outstanding contribution of Lawrence Stenhouse to progressive educational thinking also has the capacity to endure. He wrote ‘a book instead of a text book’ (1975, vii) that offered a highly personal view of what constitutes, curriculum and the practice of teaching. In this paper we explore what we see to be both those monoliths which have stood the test of time and those which have been systematically eroded over the past two decades by the corrosive actions of neoliberalism through the drivers of the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM). We suggest that while Stenhouse’s work pre-dated the origins of the GERM, that his ‘standing stones’ constitute a legacy with powerful potential for educators working to respond to the dilemmas of practice shaped by neoliberal policy discourses in education. We draw on examples from recent education policy shifts in England and Australia to make a case for clearing the way to ensure that the Stenhousian tradition is fully recognised and continues to contribute to contemporary educational praxis – that which is fully human and morally defensible.

This study examines the optimization of merit-based civil service management within the framework of the rule of law, focusing on the gap between normative legal provisions and bureaucratic practices in Indonesia. Despite bureaucratic reform mandates since the 1998 Reform Movement, civil service governance continues to face challenges such as inefficiency, weak accountability, and patronage culture. This research aims to analyze the effectiveness of the merit system as a legal instrument to promote professionalism, neutrality, and accountability within the Civil Service (Aparatur Sipil Negara/ASN), particularly following the enactment of Law Number 20 of 2023, which abolished the Civil Service Commission (KASN). Employing a normative juridical method with a descriptive-analytical approach, this study reviews statutory regulations, academic literature, and official reports from KASN and the National Civil Service Agency (BKN). The findings indicate that although the merit system is legally grounded in Law Number 5 of 2014 and Law Number 20 of 2023, its implementation remains inconsistent due to weak oversight mechanisms, limited regulatory clarity, and uneven digital infrastructure readiness. The elimination of independent supervision has reduced checks and balances, while disparities in the adoption of ASN digital systems hinder transparency. This study proposes strengthening derivative regulations, reconstructing independent oversight through a merit audit mechanism, and accelerating digital transformation. The study contributes by integrating administrative law, meritocracy, and good governance principles to position the merit system as a legal and managerial tool for building a professional and accountable bureaucracy.

ABSTRACT The reform movement in Indonesia following the authoritarian era has significantly influenced educational policy. It has pursued democratic reforms, including a transformation of civic education into a competency-based model aimed at cultivating democratic citizenship. This paper examines how civic education policy has fostered the development of good citizen competencies by analysing post-New Order curriculum documents, beginning with their introduction in 2004 and continuing through the implementation of the Independent Curriculum in 2022. The findings indicate that democratic principles are being progressively integrated into curricular programs to foster citizens who are both informed and responsible. Since the reform era, Indonesia’s civic education curriculum has gone through several changes. Across those curriculum periods, democratic values as the foundation of civic competence have faced persistent inconsistencies, shaped by shifting educational politics and uneven national policy implementation. This study shows that civic competency development is shaped by political forces and national ideals.

The Israel–Hamas War, which erupted with the horrifying events of 7 October 2023, stands as one of the pivotal breaking points in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict since its inception. Both sides have been left battered, pained, and devoid of any trust or hope for peace. Among the local immediate social grassroots responses to repairing the fractured relationship was the production of a special prayer booklet focused on coexistence and shared life liturgy produced by the Reform Movement in Israel, a non-Orthodox Jewish community. In this article, I analyze four prayers for peace included in this booklet, written by Israeli female religious leaders. I examine how these women crafted prayers to promote a message of peace. The texts establish a maternal dialogue to foster a space of trust and security, aiming to replace the exclusive focus on the God of Israel with a deity encompassing all nations. Through these liturgical creations, the authors challenge both the Israeli Orthodox establishment, which excludes non-Orthodox identities and expressions, and the hegemonic national order, which suppresses discussions of coexistence during times of conflict and marginalizes women’s political involvement. Therefore, I conclude that the creators of these prayers emerge as significant gendered political actors in an era marked by distrust, anger, hostility, and fear. They demonstrate that a message of coexistence can resonate within the religious sphere.

Punjab’s history has been marked by turbulence both before and after India’s independence. In an environment filled with uncertainty, the Sikh minority has often felt marginalised in post-independence India, leading to several social movements advocating for recognition. One significant movement is the Khalistan movement, which triggered a prolonged insurgency in Punjab and marked one of the bloodiest periods in Indian history. This paper explores the Neo-Khalistan movement as a contemporary revival of Sikh religious, cultural, and political identity, extending beyond mere separatist aims. It traces the movement's roots to the Singh Sabha and Gurdwara Reform movements, illustrating how these historical initiatives have cultivated a unique Sikh consciousness that endures to this day. The study examines the shift from the 1980s Punjab insurgency to advocacy by the Sikh diaspora in countries like Canada, the UK, and the US. Organisations like Sikhs for Justice and the World Sikh Organisation are at the forefront of promoting Sikh rights and memory politics. The assassination of notable figures such as Hardeep Singh Nijjar highlights the escalating tensions between diaspora activism and the Indian government. This research argues that the Neo-Khalistan movement is motivated more by symbolic assertion and resistance to perceived cultural assimilation than by territorial ambitions. Ultimately, it concludes that the movement signifies a dynamic redefinition of Sikh identity in response to ongoing political marginalisation and historical grievances.

Beliefs held by aspiring EFL teachers are foundational to their pedagogical practices, affecting their conceptualization, evaluation, and implementation of contemporary language teaching approaches. In the context of the reform movement “New Ukrainian School,” disclosing the nature of these beliefs is critical to implementing the stipulated innovations into classroom practices. Therefore, this study explored prospective language teachers’ beliefs regarding contemporary and traditional language teaching. A survey was conducted among 64 final-year undergraduate students enrolled in an English Language and Literature education program. The questionnaire assessed their beliefs across domains of language instruction, such as goals, classroom procedures, language use, and teacher/learner roles. Quantitative data analysis revealed a strong preference for principles underlying contemporary language teaching, particularly those emphasizing fluency, target language use, and cooperative learning. However, the respondents also expressed moderate support for aspects of traditional language teaching, such as explicit grammar instruction, accuracy, repetition, and teacher-centeredness. Such duality suggests students’ inclination for eclecticism and post-method pedagogy, where pre-service teachers selectively apply principles from both instructional paradigms to suit specific contexts. The findings point to the complexity of beliefs development during initial teacher education, underscoring the need for targeted methodological intervention to raise students’ awareness of their tacit beliefs.

This study aims to shed light on the language of evaluation embedded in national early childhood curricula in England, New Zealand, and Denmark, in order to examine how evaluation is configured within each context. Curriculum documents and relevant literature were analyzed, supplemented by email correspondence with in-country experts. In England, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), shaped by neoliberalism and the Global Education Reform Movement, positions “school readiness” as a core goal and mandates child assessment across curriculum areas. However, criticisms of this fragmented, highly structured, individual-centered approach have accumulated, pointing to intensified educational inequality and child poverty, as well as distorted curriculum enactment. In New Zealand, Te Whāriki, responding to neoliberal pressures and demands for alignment with primary and secondary curricula, highlights “learning dispositions” and promotes a sociocultural narrative approach to assessment through portfolios and learning stories. Nevertheless, concerns remain that, in practice, it has not fully moved beyond an individual-centered approach. In Denmark, the Strengthened Pedagogical Curriculum, grounded in the Nordic tradition of social pedagogy, foregrounds “Bildung” as a long-term goal to be pursued collectively by the educational community and emphasizes pedagogical evaluation of learning environments and relationality. It is regarded as an innovative attempt to advance relational pedagogy by fostering pedagogical documentation and building an evaluation culture. Based on these findings, this study suggests that Korea move toward a language of evaluation grounded in relationship-centered observation and documentation and cultivate an authentic culture of evaluation that enables collective reflection, sustained dialogue, and pedagogical experimentation, to support the co-construction of play-based curriculum with young children.

This article examines Jadidism as a cultural, educational, and social reform movement of the Muslim intelligentsia in Turkestan in the early twentieth century. The study explores the historical prerequisites for the emergence of Jadidism, its ideological foundations, and its principal areas of activity, including educational reform, the development of the periodical press, and the formation of a new cultural environment. Particular attention is paid to the leading figures of the Jadid movement and their contribution to the modernization of Muslim society, as well as to the resistance they encountered from traditionalist religious circles and the colonial administration of the Russian Empire. The article highlights the role of Jadidism in shaping national consciousness among the peoples of Turkestan and assesses its significance for subsequent socio-political and cultural transformations in the region. It is argued that Jadidism constituted a crucial stage in the cultural modernization of Central Asia and laid the foundations for the emergence of a modern national intelligentsia in the twentieth century.

ABSTRACT This article discusses trustee savings banks as an aspect of the social reform movement throughout the British Empire during the immediate post-emancipation period. An examination of savings banks is necessary within the context of reform and the transference of British values throughout its empire. The focus is on the territory of Jamaica, which was one of the few colonies to adopt the trustee savings bank model developed in Britain when compared with the many governmental savings banks established in colonies throughout the empire. The primary focus of this article is to address the extent that imperial values related to the reform of formerly enslaved colonial subjects were transferred through this institution. Slavery abolition and emancipation in the British Caribbean represented one of the greatest reform movements in the history of the Empire and savings banks became a key component of this process. Despite the efforts of the colonial government of Jamaica to adopt the financial elements associated with savings banks, there was notable difficulty in convincing sections of the formerly enslaved segment of the population to support an institution run by trustees aligned to the plantocracy. The article, therefore, raises questions about the extent to which the social reform agenda through these banks was successful and appropriate in the post-emancipation era, considering the alternatives available to the black majority at the community level. In the wider context of Jamaican society, the trustee savings banks corresponded to various socio-political and economic developments and paved the way for a more holistic and integrated system with imperial directives.

By International Women’s Day 1975, a narrative was well in place that women’s liberation started in Australia in 1970. This article explores a little-recognised precursor: humanism and the commitment to civil liberties in the abortion law reform movement. It does this by looking at three women abortion law reform campaigners active in the 1960s, before Women’s Liberation reached Australia. The three women are: Beryl Henderson (b. 1897), who was a member of the founding executive committee of the British Abortion Law Reform Association when it was formed in 1936 and in 1968 began the Canberra branch of the Abortion Law Reform Association; Julia Freebury (b. 1923), an indefatigable worker for abortion law reform in New South Wales; and Beatrice Faust (b. 1939), founder of the Women’s Electoral Lobby, who in 1966 set up a sub-committee on abortion law reform in the recently formed Victorian Council of Civil Liberties.

This research examines the connection between the public sector reform component and public sector efficiency through Vietnam’s administrative reform movement (2015-2023). Drawing on the theoretical principles of New Public Management (NPM), the study explores whether the structural reform components; downsizing the civil service, merging administrative units, digitization, and expenditure on training, can lead to observable improvements in the effectiveness of public administration. To evaluate the relationship between structural reform processes and public administration effectiveness, this study employs a multiple linear regression analysis with data from the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), Vietnam's e-Government Development Index, and national reform reports. The study's results demonstrate that civil service downsizing and administrative unit merging are positively related to government effectiveness as stated by WGI. The study also shows that the process of digitization is both an independent driver of effectiveness and has the capacity to mediate a larger impact of the observed relationship between civil service downsizing and effectiveness. The expenditure on training demonstrated marginal significance in a positive direction; which demonstrates the importance of investing in human capital over the longer term. The study's analysis suggests that the implementation of multi-dimensional reform mechanisms, particularly those combining structural processes and digitization, are notable drivers of effectiveness in transitional and developing economies. Finally, Vietnam provides real-world evidence for public sector leaders seeking to modernize public administration in an era of fiscal management and political centralization.

The historiography of Bulgaria in the 19th century contains numerous statements concerning the early attempts to establish a printing house on Bulgarian territory following the emergence of liberalisation and reform movements during the Tanzimat period. The historical knowledge on the topic is mainly based on memoir sources, which subjectively reflect the course of events in the context of the actual Revival movement. There is a lack of sources that provide de facto evidence of the administrative procedures undertaken by Bulgarian Revival circles to establish the urgently needed printing house through official communication with the Ottoman authorities. This article presents the transcribed and translated content of Dragan Tsankov’s submission for a printing press permission. The Ottoman Turkish document is preserved in the Ottoman Archives of the Directorate of State Archives in Istanbul. The study provides an outline of the endeavours between Dragan Tsankov and the Sublime Porte to establish a Bulgarian printing press in Svishtov in 1854, along with the circumstances that led to his failure and ideological transformation. Keywords:Bulgarian book printing; Bulgarian Revival; Arzuhal; Dragan Tsankov; Catholic Union.

Quality assurance (QA) is often considered a crucial step towards development in educational organizations and constitutes a staple of the current reform movement towards standardization and local quality management in the Swedish system. While shown to be implemented disparately within various educational contexts, challenges in implementation are especially apparent in those that lack standardized or clear assessment criteria. This study explores the perceptions of principals and deputy principals in relation to what enables and constrains their organizing towards QA in Swedish school-age educare (SAEC) – an extended education program facing these challenges. The results show that principals play a crucial role in shaping the outcomes of the implementation of QA practices in SAEC. Outcomes appear to depend on how they make sense (or don’t make sense/make nonsense) of external demands in relation to their internal practices – resulting in a lack of shared meaning, i.e. organizational dischronization.

This study examines the jurisprudential debates surrounding the translation of the Friday khutbah (sermon) into Malayalam in Kerala, particularly during the twentieth century. The translation of the khutbah, traditionally recited in Arabic, emerged as a contentious issue, challenging the linguistic orthodoxy of the Shafi’i school of jurisprudence and intersecting with socio-religious reform movements. Using Arabic, Arabi-Malayalam and Malayalam texts as primary sources, I analyse the khutbah translation debate, wherein figures like Muhyudheen Moulavi advocated for translation, while fatwas issued by traditional scholars in the mid 1900s declared such translations as bid’ah munkara (discouraged innovation) and harām (forbidden). This study comprehensively analyses the khutbah translation debates by employing qualitative methods such as textual analysis and historical contextualisation. It examines secular and post-secular aspects of translation, reformative trends among Kerala Muslims and the role of the ulama as agents of both change and resistance in vernacularising the language of ritual.

Cutaneous manifestations of infectious diseases as reflected by printed funeral sermons of the 16th to 18th centuries.

The text reconstructs the history of Psychology in Brazil, taking as its central axis the relationship between physicians and Psychology - its theories, techniques, and, ultimately, its professionals. Recognizing that history is shaped by its context, it discusses the sociocultural conditions of Brazil's colonial period, the Empire, and the different stages of the Republic, seeking to interweave them with the medical approach to Mental Health. Against this backdrop, this paper aims at describing how medical studies appropriated the psychological knowledge developed in Europe in the late nineteenth century and it points out how, at the beginning of the following century, psychiatrists began to show interest in and make use of psychological testing, primarily to improve diagnostic discrimination. It then presents the process through which Psychology gained autonomy, following its appropriation by educators. The text later returns to the relationship between physicians and the now-established psychologists within the context of the Psychiatric Reform movement and their joint work in the Unified Health System (SUS). The conclusion points to some trends for the coming years.

Youth political mobilization has historically been one of the most influential forces in transforming societies and shaping democratic governance. With their energy, innovation, and sense of justice, young people have often acted as catalysts for political change, whether in independence struggles, reform movements, or grassroots campaigns. From India’s freedom fighters and student unions to the global youth-led protests for climate action, their engagement demonstrates that no nation can progress without the active involvement of its younger generation. Political mobilization of youth thus becomes central not only to democratic participation but also to the broader process of nation-building, which requires collective identity, inclusive governance, and social cohesion.

Prompted by the inhumane and insufficient care conditions, a reform movement began to emerge at the University Hospital Leipzig starting in the 1960s. In Germany as well as in Leipzig, psychiatric care was dominated by the imbalance between asylum and university psychiatry, characterized by hierarchy, a lack of cooperation, and separated areas of responsibility. In contrast, there existed an independent and poorly developed extramural care system. Starting in 1974, the Leipzig reform group reorganized the city's mental health care system based on the sector model, aiming to establish a community-based, low-barrier, and less hierarchical psychiatry. Sectorization meant introducing a territorial obligation to provide inpatient care and a reorganization of outpatient and inpatient structures. Although imperfect, the sectorization in Leipzig was an attempt to humanize psychiatric care and grant greater quality of life and self-determination to people with mental illnesses.

Compared to the Reform and Orthodox movements in the United States, Conservative Judaism has experienced the tension between tradition and change much more intensely. The “middle way” ideal has inevitably left the Conservative movement open to criticism in every period. Conservative Judaism, which remained the most popular movement in the United States from the last quarter of the 19th century -when it began to evolve into an institutional dimension- until roughly the end of the 20th century, is currently experiencing a period of crisis. The article, which aims to reveal the main reasons that played role in the decline of the Conservative movement and to draw a framework for its future, examines both of these areas with references to the founding ideology of the movement. Within this framework, the research has been conducted in the context of the vision of Judaism advanced by the movement’s founding leader Solomon Schechter (1849-1915). This main groundwork performs a critical function in helping to compare the idealized Conservative understanding of religion with the current state of the movement, thus helping to identify problematic points and to make forward-looking comments and predictions. The Conservative movement has not been able to evaluate the ongoing process of decline as part of a comprehensive research initiative from within the movement itself. It is hoped that this article will contribute to the literature as a critical study. Regarding the future of the movement, this article defends the thesis that establishing a close relationship with Orthodox Jews who have certain characteristics can play a vital role in the Conservative movement’s recovery from its present state of crisis.