Dr. C. Satish started his career at the DAV Boys Senior Secondary School, Gopalapuram, Chennai in 1983 and served for 28 years rising to the position of principal, before signing up with the Paavai Group of Schools in Namakkal, as director and senior principal in 2011. Are you satisfied with the Union Budget 2018-19 allocation of Rs.85,010 crore for education? Finance minister Arun Jaitley’s allocation for education should be appreciated. The Union Budget has rightly focused on integration of several school schemes including the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan to benefit all classes from pre-nursery to class XII. Moreover, to infuse fiscal accountability among state higher educational institutions, the Union government has set up a restructured higher education financing agency (HEFA) which will lend low-cost funds to them to improve infrastructure and meet other expenses instead of depending solely on government grants. How satisfied are you with the quality of exam boards’ syllabuses, curriculums and prescribed textbooks? Currently, there are 42 boards in our country including CBSE, CISCE and state boards in addition to boards in the non-formal education sector. All of them have different curriculums and textbooks. I believe that for core subjects like mathematics and science there should be a common curriculum throughout India. Only then can students from differing school boards be capable of facing competitive examinations such as JEE/NEET conducted by the Central government. Syllabuses/curriculums should be restructured every five years, bearing in mind new developments in science and technology. What’s your solution to upgrade board curriculums, textbooks? The curriculum framed should meet the demands of examinations and ensure that teachers manage to complete their syllabuses on time. Subject experts should be involved in framing syllabuses so that exam papers have application-based questions. This will enable students to perform well in national entrance exams and make them job-ready. Your Top 5 suggestions for reforming K-12 education? • Schools should introduce continuous evaluation based on practical application of concepts. Schools should also develop the interactive life skills of students. • Teachers should encourage students to take part in discussions and debates to become independent thinkers. • Excellent infrastructure has to be built in schools and a harmonious relationship between teachers and students must be encouraged. • Teachers should be trained periodically to meet the demands of revamped curriculums. • Education should equip children to become globally competitive in tests, exams and workplaces.
