Congratulations on the informative cover story featuring 50 leaders from different walks of life working relentlessly towards changing Indian education (EW June). Their biographies are an inspiration for all principals and teachers. I am especially pleased that you have included our dynamic chairman Dr. Augustine Pinto, and managing director Mme Grace Pinto in your list of education leaders. In all the Ryan International Group of Institutions which comprise 128 schools countrywide, their philosophy of education based on 12 tenets viz, academics, environment, sports, music, art, culture, heritage, communication skills, health, human resources management, finance, media, foundation and leadership, is practiced. The Indian Model United Nations, International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts, community outreach, environmental sustainability programmes, NASA visits, Presidential Classrooms etc are a few of the co-curricular platforms for students to express their talents and abilities. Arti Bahadur Vice-principal, Ryan International School Vasant Kunj, Delhi Appreciative but strange It’s always a pleasure to receive a fresh issue of EducationWorld as it brings so much news from around the country. I don’t always agree with the magazine’s point of view, but I seldom feel unpleasantly surprised the way I feel today, after seeing the write-up on me in your latest issue (EW June cover story). I have no idea how your staff acquired the impression that I “put in my papers after getting disillusioned”. This is a remarkable instance of baseless and misleading information. There was never any question of my wanting a second term. As a teacher I wanted to return to my university after completing my five-year contract with NCERT. Long before this period was to end on September 5, 2009, I had conveyed my intention to the Union HRD ministry, requesting it to set in motion the process for the search of my successor. As it often happens in our system, the process was not initiated in time and I was requested to stay on till a successor was found. I accepted the request and agreed to carry on for a period of six months. When this period ended on March 5, 2010, I returned to my university even though a successor had still not been identified. There was no question of any disillusionment or disappointment. I also feel unhappy with the following statement: “…he conceptualised and wrote the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE, 2005)”. I thought you must be aware, and I can recall your magazine mentioning on an earlier occasion, that NCF-2005 was drafted through a process of an extremely large-scale social deliberation in which more than 3,000 experts, teachers, representatives of non-government organisations, parents and students participated. As many as 21 National Focus Groups contributed different insights and parts of the text that was ultimately welded together in the NCF document by the National Steering Committee chaired by Professor Yash Pal. To say that I wrote this document is not only false but also ignores and trivialises the massive collective effort and spirit that went into its making. I wonder whether the source material for your rather strange…
