Mukesh Sharma Director, Prometheus School, Noida An alumnus of BITS-Pilani and the University of Colorado, Boulder (USA), Mukesh Sharma is a tech entrepreneur (QA Infotech Pvt. Ltd) and promoter of the Cambridge and IB-affiliated Prometheus School, Noida (estb.2019) and also c0-founder and trustee of Plaksha University, Mohali. It’s very important that all children countrywide receive digitally-enabled K-12 education. For instance, the Academic Bank of Credits idea should be expanded to acknowledge every school student’s achievement — through digital awards, badges, certificates and the like. Digital credentials can be stored and accessed by students, teachers and employers at any time. This recognition system will boost student participation in co-curricular and sports education. I hope it’s not too late to add this dimension to the new NCFSE to incentivise children to build a track record of their achievements and create a national talent pool. Life skills education, which enables children to learn to navigate their personal and academic lives, is not on the curriculum of most of India’s 1.5 million schools. I hope NCFSE 2023 will encourage school managements to teach life skills such as financial literacy, communication, emotional intelligence, and time management from early years. I am confident that NCFSE and NCF in general will advise state governments, exam boards and school managements to build liberal school environments that encourage achievement in non-academic fields. Nurturance of exceptional athletes, musicians, and artists is an important obligation of our government and educators. The sole focus of our education system should not be academic success.
