EducationWorld March 2023 Archives

BML MUNJAL UNIVERSITY: Multidimensional Liberal Arts Education

Named after the founder-chairman of the Hero Group, Dr. Brijmohan Lall Munjal (1923-2015), BML Munjal University, Gurugram (BMU, estb. 2014) provides its 2,700 students a world-class and innovative teaching-learning and research environment. Promoted by the Hero Group — the world’s largest producers of bicycles and automotive two wheelers (scooters; motorcycles) whose various CSR initiatives have educated and empowered over 200,000 Indians — BMU is a non-profit initiative which offers 11 undergrad, postgrad, doctoral and executive degree programs (engineering, law, business management, economics and commerce) supported by compulsory industry internships. BMU also offers up to 100 percent scholarships to students for all its programs. Over the past near decade, BMU has achieved several milestones and won plaudits and encomiums for building a formidable reputation in research, innovation and hands-on and cross-disciplinary learning. The globally top-ranked Imperial College London came on board as academic mentor in 2013 following which BMU launched its School of Engineering & Technology and started offering its degree programs, along with specialisations. A number of centres of excellence have also been established over the years in partnership with industry. Till date, BMU has signed agreements with over 17 foreign universities. In 2014, BMU launched its School of Management followed by School of Economics and Commerce. In 2019 it launched its law school and four years on, its School of Liberal Studies will begin operations in the academic year 2023-24. The demand for liberal arts education in India has been gradually building steam since the early 2000s (Godwin 2015). This trend is perhaps most evident in the rise of private universities like FLAME, Krea, Ashoka, Jindal, and BML Munjal University, which offer undergraduate degrees in liberal arts. However, many HEIs are adopting liberal arts approaches without explicitly labeling them as such. At Ambedkar University, Delhi, for example, the interdisciplinary liberal arts framework is woven into the undergraduate program and has proven to be a model for such experiments in the public university system. The Central government, for its part, has embraced the move towards liberal education, calling on schools and HEIs to adopt “holistic and multidisciplinary” curriculums that will prepare students to meet the demands of a rapidly changing economic landscape (NEP 2020). Policymakers worry that college graduates are entering the labour force without the skills they need to succeed professionally, and this concern is not without merit. According to the 2021 India Skills Report, less than 50 percent of all college graduates for that year were considered “employable”. If the India Skills Report is accurate, this means that millions of new degree-holders could find themselves unemployed in 2023. A Liberal Arts education trains students to think critically, creatively, and compassionately about the world and themselves. The most pressing issues of our time — climate change, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, social inequality, public health, urban growth, rural development, and challenges to democratic institutions — cannot be addressed by any one discipline alone. That is why a Liberal Arts program aims to equip students with disciplinary training as well as a…

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Bridge skills gap to boost job creation

India’s biggest problem is bridging the skills gap for job creation at scale. The country’s GDP can grow to Rs.400 lakh crore, if its working-age population is employed With a GDP of Rs.300 lakh crore and 6.5 percent growth forecast — making the country the fastest growing economy globally — India is adding 12 million youth to its labour force annually. Nearly half are employed in agriculture, and the other half is in industry and services. India has the advantages of favourable demographics and rapid digital penetration. Industry 4.0 supported by the Gig economy is opening up a range of opportunities for youth. However, India’s target of 29 million skilled professionals and GDP target of Rs.850 lakh crore (by 2030) is perhaps too ambitious. Unemployment at 8.3 percent is dragging down growth. Digitisation is driving automation while the workforce is unsuitable for the digital era. Only a quarter of India’s graduates are employable. With unemployment highest in the 15-29 age group, the future looks grim. India’s biggest problem is bridging the skills gap for job creation at scale. The country’s GDP can grow to Rs.400 lakh crore (i.e, 1.5x of the current US economy), if its working-age population is employed. India needs a National Doctrine with four strong pillars — Mindset, Structure, Building Blocks, and Values. In my previous essay (https://www.educationworld.in/transforming-india-into-a-global-education-hub/), I wrote about Mindset. Here I address the structure that India can adopt to bridge the skills gap for jobs creation. Make cars so highways can be built. Tomorrow’s world belongs to the skilled, not merely educated. Skilling youth is similar to making cars first so highways can be built. India’s current institutional framework of National Skill Development Mission, NEP 2020, Samagra Shiksha, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, are in the right direction and an excellent foundation to build on. Yet making India’s youth skilled and employable calls for a shift in the education system from emphasis on knowledge accumulation to its application. Skills training will have to start from primary school and culminate in higher education with internships/apprenticeships. Industry has to partner with government through PPP (public private partnerships) to build a synergistic next generation platform — Advanced Integrated Mission for Skills (AIMS) — for a skills ecosystem customised to deliver high quality, well-trained talent supply chain (i.e, cars) to meet rising industry demand for skilled professionals in climate-smart agriculture, quantum computing, AI, robotics, space, and green economy. AIMS can create long-term impact among learners, employers/investors and government to enable jobs creation and start-ups incubation (i.e, highways) to power India in Industry 4.0 and beyond. When rubber meets road. AIMS should have five structural elements. (1) Testing at point-of-entry and continuously through a learner’s journey, (2) Capability building of educators, (3) Partner ecosystem for content, internships/apprenticeships/jobs/capital, (4) Hybrid infrastructure with technology across skill spokes, skill hubs and skill universities (36 Indian Institutes of Skills in state capitals and Union territories), and (5) National Command Control Centre with linkages to India’s 766 Skill Hubs for real-time…

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Mailbox

Welcome guidelines Congratulations for a brilliant cover story ‘1991 liberalisation moment in Indian education?’ and informative graphics on the recent big deals in K-12 education and foreign education majors in India (EW February). Strong winds of change are indeed sweeping over Indian education. Samuel Fraser of ISC Research is right in his comment that “NEP 2020 is directing education in India towards key principles and strategies associated with internationally accepted teaching-learning norms”. The recent UGC guideline outlining terms and conditions for foreign universities to establish campuses in India was overdue. I hope that they will spring up soon. They will be a great boon for students and the education ecosystem. Anil Varma Mumbai Devise scholarship schemes Your cover story (EW February) titled ‘1991 inflection point for Indian education’ is thought provoking. The green signal to foreign universities to set up campuses in India will certainly prove a game changer for Indian higher education. They will provide stiff competition and incentive for Indian colleges and universities to improve the quality of education they dispense. I agree with Mohandas Pai that this is a turning point for Indian higher education. Now world-class education will be delivered to students at their doorstep, saving billions in foreign exchange outflow. But foreign universities should heed his advice to devise scholarship schemes for deserving Indian students who may not be able to afford their high fees. Perhaps the government should make this a pre-condition of licensing them to set up campuses on Indian soil. S.K. Chandrashekar Mysuru Unprecedented exposé Your well-researched special report feature ‘India’s snowballing SEL skills deficit’ (EW February) is an unprecedented exposé of the failure of India’s government and best private schools to develop children’s social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. I was shocked to read the findings of the Cognitive & Affective Skills (CASS) Study 2022, especially that almost 70 percent of students in private schools report peer and teacher abuse. Although one often hears of cases of students exhibiting aggressive behaviour in private schools, most of us don’t connect this with the neglect of SEL by school managements. Your detailed report is an eye opener and must be read by all teachers and parents. Charu Srivastava Delhi Great contribution Thanks for publishing the list of CENTA TPO 2021 winners (EW February). CENTA has done great service to Indian education by assessing and certifying teachers and principals — the backbone of our schools. Indian education needs a continuous supply of high-quality, well-trained teachers and education leaders ready and willing to keep abreast of latest curriculums and pedagogies. That’s CENTA’s contribution. Venkatesh B. Chennai Careful design needed I fully endorse the views of Prof. Rajesh Khanna in ‘Pandemic learning loss: myths and realities’ (EW February). As a teacher from a tier II city, I have witnessed that all children suffered learning loss during the Covid pandemic lockdown — but not equally. For instance, my students who switched to online learning under supervision of parents and family elders, have suffered less learning loss than…

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Letter from the Editor

For most people including educators, the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) for K-12 education — last presented to the nation in 2005 — is what the apocryphal elephant was to the seven blind men of Hindoostan. As our indefatigable Managing Editor, Summiya Yasmeen discovered in parleys with over three dozen educators — principals, teachers, education consultants — before short-listing 19 for interview, most have a hazy idea of what NCF is all about and its purpose. This prevailing confusion is confounded because the new NCF, which is expected to be finalised by year end, will be presented in four detailed and separate documents. The first document (360 pages) for Foundational Stage was presented to the nation on October 20 last year and was acclaimed by ECCE (early childhood care and education) professionals and preschool promoters. The second document, the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), which will lay down a framework/guidelines for primary-secondary schools countrywide, is scheduled to be released shortly. NCFSE 2023 is expected to provide guidelines to managements and teachers of all 1.40 million schools countrywide, which have a staggering number of 260 million children on their muster rolls, to attain the ambitious goals set by the National Education Policy 2020. NEP 2020 based on a detailed 484-page report of the Kasturirangan Committee, mandates radical overhaul of India’s moribund education system, KG-Ph D. After the imminent NCFSE is presented, two more comprehensive documents on teacher education and adult literacy will be presented later this year by a NCF Steering Committee chaired by Dr. K. Kasturirangan. This will complete the process of conceptualisation and finalisation of the unprecedented NCF 2023. Looks like an overdue sea change is imminent in Indian education. But the devil is in implementation. As usual at this time of year, our second lead story examines the Union Budget 2023-24 from the perspective of India’s long-suffering children. Despite being aware that children countrywide suffered severe learning loss during the unduly long Covid lockdown of schools averaging 82 weeks, and that they urgently need intensive remedial education to catch up, Dr. Sitharaman has presented a business-as-usual budget. Yet unlike intellectuals and pundits, in EW we are not content to merely breast-beat and lament. For the tenth time we present an alternative budget/schema suggesting ways and means to mobilise Rs.7-8 lakh crore for investment in education and human resource development. He that hath ears let him hear! Also check out excellent essays by Rajiv Desai and London-based edupreneur Sanjay Vishwanthan and other unique content that distinguishes this journal from all others worldwide. Yet while your editors — metaphorically speaking — can take horse to water, they can’t alas, make it drink.

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Let’s take charge of Muscle Health!!!!

Did you know you have more than 600 muscles in your body? These muscles help you move, lift things, pump blood through your body, and even help you breathe.

Adequate muscles are essential for optimal health throughout life. In today’s digital age, children and young adults spend more time indoors, have bad postures, poor dietary habits […]

Annual Jaipuria Leadership Program

The management of Seth M.R Jaipuria schools routinely organise its annual Jaipuria Leadership Program (JLP) for all its school principals. The Leadership Program is an intensive two-day professional learning opportunity to help school leaders reflect on their practices, explore successful school improvement models, and learn research-based techniques to advance teaching-learning in classrooms.

2023 marks the 8th […]

National Curriculum Framework for School Education: Great expectations

With a 13-member National Steering Committee headed by Dr. K. Kasturirangan giving final touches to the NCFSE, EW invited several eminent school leaders to share their great and small expectations writes Summiya Yasmeen Eighteen years after the National Curriculum Framework (NCF) 2005 was promulgated by the Congress-led UPA government, a new NCF for 260 million school children growing and learning in a fast-changing primary-secondary education system revolutionised by new pedagogies and digital technologies, is in the final stages of completion. A 13-member National Steering Committee headed by Dr. K. Kasturirangan, former chairman of ISRO and chairperson of the eponymous committee which prepared the 484-page draft report on which the 66-page National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 is based, is giving the final touches to the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE), the second installment of the new NCF. The first installment — the 360-page National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCFFS) for children in the three-eight age group — was formally launched on October 20 last year. NCFFS was widely welcomed by early childhood education experts for unambiguously prescribing early childhood care and education (ECCE) through play, conversation, stories, toys, music, art and crafts. The new NCF is being presented in four installments — testimony to Dr. Kasturirangan’s commitment to detail — the National Curriculum Framework for Foundational Stage (NCFFS); National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCFSE); National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE) and National Curriculum Framework for Adult Education (NCFAE). The last installment of NCF is expected to be completed by end 2023. “After completion of the very important NCFFS late last year, NCFSE is being finalised. The main objectives of NCFSE are to shift the focus of primary, secondary and higher secondary education from rote to applied learning and critical thinking, making teaching-learning multi-disciplinary and holistic, and providing direction for smooth transition of K-12 education from the 10+2 to the new 5+3+3+4 schooling system recommended by NEP 2020. NCFSE will be more than a curriculum framework, it will also be a hands-on teacher’s manual for curriculum implementation in primary-secondary and higher secondary classrooms,” says Dr. Chetan Singai, Chief Consultant, Technical Secretariat of the Union education ministry, which is overseeing the NCF formulation process. An alum of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, Dr. Singai is also associate professor at the School of Social Sciences of Ramaiah University, Bengaluru. The four-part NCF will be the outcome of a national consultative process set in motion last year by the Union education ministry and the Delhi-based National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT). According to a NCERT spokesperson, the steering committee has received over 1.5 lakh inputs, 600 District level consultation reports, 608 NCF position papers from 27 state governments and reports of 25 national focus groups. This national consultation effort is important because the new NCF should be accepted by all 28 states and seven Union territories of India. With education in the concurrent list of the Constitution, state governments have the right to design their own school curriculums. However,…

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Rashid Sharfuddin

Rashid Sharfuddin Headmaster, SelaQui International School, Dehradun An alum of Delhi and Bath (UK) universities, Rashid Sharfuddin is headmaster, SelaQui International School, Dehradun. It is ranked among India’s Top 10 co-ed boarding schools in EWISR 2022-23. I expect NCFSE 2023 to provide robust and detailed guidelines to schools countrywide to improve learning outcomes and equip children with 21st century skills and competencies. I am also expecting it to contain guidelines on the smooth inclusion of vocational education into secondary and senior secondary education. Against the backdrop of over 50 percent of children dropping out after secondary school, the integration of vocational education in the formal school system will surely boost their employability. I hope the new NCFSE will prescribe a new flexible subjects choice system at the secondary level to provide students flexibility to select subject divergent streams. Also it should suggest compulsory study of one international language in middle and secondary school. I am also hoping that the third instalment of NCF for Teacher Education will provide a roadmap to train and equip teachers with the skills and competencies required to implement NEP 2020 in letter and spirit. In addition, I look forward to NCFSE 2023 giving top priority to examinations reform. It’s high time our schools moved away from the final exam assessment system to continuous evaluation at the primary-secondary levels. To achieve the holistic education objective of NEP 2020, I am keeping fingers crossed that NCFSE 2023 will light the way for all schools across the country to formally teach spiritual, social and citizenship values. This will lead to national unity and harmony.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Kinjal Gajera

Kinjal Gajera Trustee, Gajera Group, Surat Kinjal Gajera is the trustee of the Surat-based Gajera Trust. The trust manages 18 schools including the flagship Gajera Global School, Surat, three undergrad colleges, and an orphanage. Practical, hands-on learning which develops children’s knowledge application, collaboration and problem-solving skills, is a blindspot of K-12 education. I hope NCFSE will advise schools and teachers across the country to supplement textbook learning with environment, exploration and experiential education. It’s in the national interest that all children become self-directed learners. The national curriculum framework is a guideline. Within it, state governments and exam boards are free to teach the values, culture and history of local communities. Therefore, it should be accepted by all state governments so that K-12 education in all 1.5 million schools is standardised. This is necessary for children to mature into responsible national citizens. There’s more to education than academic learning. I am looking forward to the NCFSE advising all educators to accord high importance to physical fitness, sports education and healthy lifestyles. The new NCF should highlight the interconnectedness of academic excellence with physical, mental, and emotional well-being. New digital technologies have revolutionised teaching-learning worldwide. Our children shouldn’t be left behind. I am expecting the new NCFSE to be a charter for educators to develop digitally enriched pedagogies that will improve the learning outcomes of all children countrywide and ready them for success in the 21st century. I hope the new NCF will provide flexibility to teachers to adapt and personalise the curriculum to meet the diverse needs and capabilities of our 260 million in-school children.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Siddharth Singh

Siddharth Singh Director, Emerald Heights International School, Indore An alum of Stony Brook University, USA, Siddharth Singh is director of the Emerald Heights International School, Indore, ranked India’s #1 co-ed day-cum-boarding school in the latest EWISRA 2022-23. Social and emotional well-being is the prerequisite of academic success. But unfortunately in most schools across the country, social and emotional learning (SEL) is ignored. I hope NCFSE and NCF will provide guidelines for SEL implementation for all children countrywide. Though the new national curriculum framework will be focused on curriculum content and pedagogy, I believe it should also suggest ways and means to create a safe and secure campus environment for all children by prescribing minimum safety standards and benchmarks. Career guidance and counseling is ignored by most schools in India. I am looking forward to NCFSE 2023 to set this right by issuing guidelines to schools across the spectrum to introduce professional career counseling programmes for secondary and senior secondary students to enable them to make informed higher education and career choices. In EHIS, our students have benefited immensely from a professional career counseling department. Teachers are the backbone of our education system and critical to implementing the new NCFSE. I am confident that the new framework will empower teachers with the flexibility and freedom to implement the curriculum in the country’s 1.5 million schools.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Arunabh Singh

Arunabh Singh Director, Nehru World School, Ghaziabad A Delhi University and King’s College, London alum, Dr. Arunabh Singh is director of the CBSE and Cambridge-affiliated Nehru World School, ranked Ghaziabad’s #1 co-ed day school in the EW India School Rankings 2022-23. NEP 2020 has mandated “multidisciplinary” and “holistic education across the sciences, social sciences, arts, humanities, and sports for a multidisciplinary world”. I am looking forward to NCFSE 2023 providing guidelines for introduction of multidisciplinary and integrated learning in all schools across India. Most schools countrywide are still rooted in chalk-n-talk and rote memorisation. I expect the new curriculum framework to provide guidelines on how to break away from these outdated methods and enable children to switch to experiential learning pedagogies including project-based learning, field trips, and hands-on activities. NEP 2020 has strongly recommended introduction of new digital technologies into school education. I hope the NCFSE will advise all schools how to use technology in education to improve learning outcomes of children countrywide. India’s children need to be freed from academic overload. I am hopeful that NCFSE 2023 will provide guidelines to promote gender equality, social and emotional learning, tolerance and inclusion in all of India’s 1.5 million schools. NEP 2020 has strongly advocated inclusion of indigenous and traditional knowledge into school curriculums. I am looking forward to the framework prescribing how all schools can integrate our own knowledge systems and local histories into the curriculum.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Sachin Vats

Sachin Vats Founder-director, Gurukul The School, Ghaziabad Sachin Vats is founder-director of the CBSE-affiliated Gurukul The School, Ghaziabad which has 2,700 students and 250 teachers on its muster rolls. NEP 2020 has mandated continuation of children learning in three languages in their school years. I am hoping the new national curriculum framework will advise state governments and school managements to stop arguing about this issue and introduce learning of a third language from primary school. Given that 80 percent of a child’s brain develops by three years of age, the early years are the best time for children to learn languages. I am looking forward to NCFSE 2023 advising exam boards to overhaul the current assessment and exam system. It is high time that instead of continuing to assess children’s memorisation skills, the new NCF should advise exam boards to start evaluating children’s reasoning and knowledge application skills. NEP 2020 has a big dream about India transforming into a knowledge superpower. For this to happen, the new NCF has to design a national curriculum for all of India’s 260 million children to enable a minimum standard of education countrywide. I hope it will advise how to introduce contemporary subjects such as AI and data science, allow subject stream selection in class IX instead of class XI and give high importance to digital proficiency. I am looking forward to national guidelines on teaching of social and emotional learning skills from primary school onwards to ensure joyful learning for all children.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Mansoor Khan

Mansoor Khan Co-founder, DPS Schools, Bengaluru/ Mysuru Mansoor Ali Khan is co-founder/director of five K-12 DPS schools in Bengaluru and Mysuru (Karnataka) and School of India, Bengaluru. Currently, these schools host an aggregate 30,000 students. I hope the new NCFSE will suggest how best to empower and enable the nation’s teachers. The framework should give teachers the flexibility to innovate to achieve the holistic development objective of NEP 2020. I am confident that NCFSE 2023 will be globally benchmarked to incorporate the best tenets and practices of international curriculums. For instance, the curriculum of ‘Studio School’, UK is worth emulating. I am expecting the new national curriculum framework to overhaul mathematics teaching-learning to banish maths phobia within students. NCFSE 2023 should also suggest experiential and practical teaching-learning pedagogies. Active parent-student-teacher engagement is the prerequisite of schooling success. NCFSE 2023 should provide guidelines on how to engage all students in shaping their learning trajectory. This would empower them to introspect, identify pathways for improvement and take charge of their own learning. NEP 2020 has mandated school curriculums to include local and indigenous knowledge systems. I am certain that the new NCFSE will suggest ways and means on how all schools can integrate this rich repository of traditional knowledge within the curriculum.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Bharat Malik

Bharat Malik Chairman, Arya Gurukul Group, Mumbai Bharat Malik is the Mumbai-based chairman of the Education Today Foundation. It manages the Arya Gurukul Group of primary-secondary schools and preschools. Malik is also a founding member of the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA). The prolonged lockdown of education institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the critical importance of children’s mental and emotional well-being. I hope the NCFSE provides guidance on improving children’s mental well-being so that they develop into well-balanced young adults. Among India’s 1.5 million schools, 400,000 are budget private schools with 60 million children, many of them first-generation learners. I am looking to NCFSE and NCF to provide guidelines on how to enable first-generation learners who receive no help at home to realise their potential. I hope it will suggest specialised skill development courses for first-generation learners and elementary adult learning programmes for their parents. NEP 2020 mandates experiential, practical learning. I am looking forward to NCFSE suggesting how to integrate experiential, practical learning into India’s schools. I hope it will also suggest how to re-introduce outdoor learning activities as practised in our ancient gurukuls.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Nafeesa Ahmed

Nafeesa Ahmed Director, Presidency Group of Institutions, Bengaluru An alumna of Bangalore and London universities, Nafeesa Ahmed is director of the Bangalore-based Presidency Group of education institutions, comprising eight K-12 schools, three colleges and the Presidency University, Bengaluru. I expect the new NCFSE and NCF to be properly aligned with the 5+3+3+4 school structure proposed in NEP 2020. Schools all over the country should be teaching age-appropriate content and developing the thinking and problem-solving skills of children from young age. NEP 2020 mandates erasure of distinctions between ‘curricular’, co-curricular’ and ‘extra-curricular’ education. Also, between arts, humanities, science, and vocational and academic streams. I am looking forward to the NCFSE providing a roadmap for all schools to introduce multi-disciplinary education. All state governments and educators should become aware of the potential of latest digital technologies to enrich education. Therefore, I hope NCFSE 2023 encourages school managements to incorporate digital learning resources to make learning more accessible, engaging, and interactive for all children countrywide. This will need intensive training of teachers in digital pedagogies which I’m sure the next installment of NCF will address. The assessment systems of schools and exam boards need to be redesigned to assess critical thinking and knowledge application skills rather than memorisation capabilities of children. In particular, exam board officials and assessors need to radically overhaul their evaluation systems. I hope the NCFSE addresses this issue. All children countrywide need to learn joyously. I am expecting NCFSE 2023 to advise school managements countrywide to reduce the drudgery of K-12 education. The mental health and wellbeing of children is the prerequisite of academic excellence and responsible citizenship.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Nishi Misra

Nishi Misra Principal, Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior An alumna of Allahabad University with valuable teaching and admin experience in several top-ranked schools including Sherwood, Nainital and former headmistress of Vidya Devi Jindal School, Hisar, Nishi Misra is principal of the Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior, ranked India’s #1 girls boarding school in the EW India School Rankings 2022-23. NEP 2020 has strongly emphasised tapping and developing the creativity of children countrywide. I hope NCF will also change the teacher training curriculum to teach creativity and innovative thinking. All children have big dreams and ideas. The new curriculum should encourage children to dream big and leave school with one big idea to pursue. I hope the new curriculum will make a break with the past and equip children with the academic competence and emotional quotient to realise their full potential. Currently, Indian education has become too academics and career oriented. I expect NCFSE and NCF to encourage teachers to teach compassion and awakened citizenship to build a harmonious society. After reading the Kasturirangan Committee Report and NEP 2020, the new NCF will arouse the creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving capabilities of children countrywide. NEP 2020 has strongly advised all state governments to integrate digital literacy and technology into education. I hope the new NCF will take that forward and provide the benefits of new digital technologies to all children countrywide.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Praveen Raju

Praveen Raju Founder-director, Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad Praveen Raju is founder-director of the CBSE (Delhi) and Cambridge International (UK)-affiliated Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad (estb.2011), which has over 1,500 children and 120 teachers on its muster rolls. With primary school enrolment at an all-time high of 98 percent, it’s time for national focus to shift from ‘education for all’ to ‘quality education for all’ (QEFA). I am looking to the NCFSE to provide guidelines for improving the curriculums of India’s 1.5 million schools. A QEFA curriculum should develop children’s academic, physical and emotional intelligences. NEP 2020 has strongly advocated multidisciplinary education. NCFSE should provide guidelines for integrating multidisciplinary including project-based and experiential learning into K-12 curriculums. I am expecting NCFSE to give high importance to digital literacy and IT-enabled pedagogies to improve learning outcomes of children countrywide. As mandated by NEP 2020, the NCFSE should provide guidelines on how to introduce vocational education in all school curriculums. This is necessary to teach children to apply academic knowledge.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Mukesh Sharma

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.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Ashish Gulati

Ashish Gulati Vice-Chairman, Blue Bells Group of Schools, Gurugram Ashish Gulati is vice-chairman of the Blue Bells Group of Schools comprising five schools and preschools in Gurugram with over 3,700 children and 350 faculty. I expect the NCFSE to provide guidelines to all schools countrywide to introduce new pedagogies that enable active student engagement, experiential learning, critical thinking and problem-solving over rote learning and knowledge dependency. In our Blue Bells schools, we use collaborative learning, inquiry-based and flipped learning pedagogies to make teaching-learning enjoyable and engaging for children. And the results are excellent. We are ready to share these pedagogies with any school countrywide. I hope the new national curriculum framework will provide a roadmap to make learning more enjoyable for all children countrywide. Teachers have to be advised to design personalised learning plans so that children learn and progress at their own pace. In the overwhelming majority of India’s 1.5 million schools, teaching-learning is teacher-led. I’m expecting NCFSE 2023 to change this by advocating pedagogies that promote self-regulated learning to encourage children to also become independent learners. NEP 2020 has called for the “education system to be reconfigured” so that all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved by 2030. Therefore, I am looking forward to the national curriculum incorporating the SDGs to promote responsible citizenship within all schoolchildren countrywide. In our schools, we have successfully integrated the SDGs into curriculums by designing hands-on projects on climate change, energy conservation, and sustainable development. I am also looking forward to the NCFSE providing guidelines for all schools to develop skills and competencies required by higher education institutions and by industry. For instance, college readiness programmes, vocational education courses and apprenticeship/internship opportunities for students.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Swoyan Satyendu

Swoyan Satyendu COO, ODM Educational Group, Bhubaneswa Swoyan Satyendu is chief operating officer of the Bhubaneswar-based ODM Educational Group, which includes ODM Public School, ODM Kids World preschool chain, ODM School of Advanced Learning (test prep), among other education institutions. Against the backdrop of a rising number of Indian students aspiring to study abroad and the recent green signal given to foreign universities to set up campuses in India, I am confident NCFSE 2023 will suggest ways and means to moderinise school curriculums, pedagogies and education practices in India. Our 260 million school-going children need to be equipped with the skills and competencies to compete and succeed not only nationally but internationally. NEP 2020 highlights the importance of child-friendly curriculums and pedagogies to enable children to learn happily. I hope NCFSE 2023 will provide standardised guidelines for teachers to deliver joyful, practical and discovery-based teaching-learning in all schools across the length and breadth of India. All children countrywide have the fundamental right to high-quality, enriching primary-secondary education. Currently in some subjects, the prescribed content is too extensive. I am hoping NCFSE 2023 will trim it down, especially content which requires rote learning. The focus should be on encouraging conceptual understanding and learning. The new NCFSE should provide guidelines to prepare India’s children for the 21st century VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) world. I am expecting suggestions on how to introduce new age contemporary subjects such as AI, entrepreneurship, innovation etc, in all schools. NEP 2020 has called for radical reform of the examination system. I hope that the NCFSE will provide guidelines to exam boards to move from testing rote learning to assessing children’s critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Devyani Jaipuria

Devyani Jaipuria Pro vice-chairperson, DPS Sector 45, Gurgaon Devyani Jaipuria is pro vice-chairperson of Delhi Public School, Jaipur, DPS Sector 45, Gurgaon and DPS International, Gurgaon. NEP 2020 mandates a complete overhaul of India’s primary-secondary education system. I am looking forward to the new NCFSE and NCF as a whole to provide guidelines to India’s 1.5 million schools on how to put the NEP 2020 vision into practice. Especially how to improve and integrate contemporary pedagogies into our Indian curriculums. Last October, the education ministry released the NCF for Foundational Stage for early childhood education — until class III. I am expecting the new NCFSE for primary-secondary education to provide all schools direction to build on children’s foundational literacy and numeracy and smoothly integrate the new 5+3+3+4 academic system. I am also looking forward to the new curriculum framework recommending ways and means to schools to integrate community service and outreach into their curriculums. NEP 2020 mandates vocational education and training (VET) in primary-secondary schools. I hope the new NCFSE will provide clear guidelines on how to introduce skills development courses in primary and secondary classes.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Pooja Taparia

Pooja Taparia Founder, Arpan, Mumbai Pooja Taparia is founder and chief executive of Arpan, a Mumbai-based award-winning NGO providing child sexual abuse prevention and intervention advisories to children and adults. I am hopeful that the new national curriculum framework will give high importance to sexual abuse prevention and personal safety education. It should provide clear guidelines to schools on ways to equip children with the knowledge and skills to identify unsafe situations, refuse assertively and seek support. NEP 2020 has directed inclusion of social and emotional learning (SEL) in all schools. I am expecting NCFSE to advise all schools countrywide to allocate time, dedicated resources and teaching-learning materials to this important subject. In alignment with NEP 2020’s mandate to all schools to provide a safe and secure learning environment for all children, NCFSE 2023 should recommend all schools to design a Child Protection Policy which will advise school managements and teachers to ensure zero tolerance towards child abuse. I hope that NCFSE 2023 will offer a roadmap to all schools to create trauma-free learning environments for children and provide access to counselling and therapy.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Dr. Hanif Kanjer

Dr. Hanif Kanjer Founder director, Rustomjee Cambridge International School, Mumbai An alum of Tuck Business School, Dartmouth College (USA) and London Business School, Dr. Hanif Kanjer is founder director, Rustomjee Cambridge International School & Junior College, Mumbai. I expect NCFSE to encourage active rather than passive learning countrywide. Today, the teaching-learning is teacher-led. This needs to change. Problem solving, project work, and creativity have to be brought back to India’s classrooms. I hope the common curriculum will encourage the development of children’s soft skills. The new NCFSE should emphasise learning as well as assessment of soft skills such as presentation, public speaking and debate. Indian education focuses on learning numerical skills but falls short on application of that knowledge. Our students know formula for calculating area of a rectangle — length x breadth. But, most are unable to estimate the area of their living room or classroom. I am looking forward to NCFSE encouraging teachers and exam boards to accord significant assessment weightage to practical learning. I am hopeful that the new NCFSE will encourage development of the emotional and social quotient of all children through drama, music and dance, and social service. This will make the schooling experience enjoyable and enriching for children across the country.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Dr. Deepak Madhok

Dr. Deepak Madhok Chairman, Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions, Varanasi Dr. Deepak Madhok is chairman of the Varanasi-based Sunbeam Group of Educational Institutions (SGEI) which includes six CBSE-affiliated Sunbeam schools in Varanasi, 17 associate schools under the franchise model in UP, two women’s arts and science colleges, and a free-of-charge vocational training school for underprivileged children. These institutions together host 30,000 students in Uttar Pradesh. I hope the imminent NCFSE will encourage school managements to design curriculums that develop the whole child, beyond academics. The new curriculum framework should fully integrate non-academic activities and provide a roadmap to assess students’ progress towards holistic education. Simultaneously, it should suggest ways and means to improve teacher training programmes. I hope it will also suggest how to equip children with the skills and strategies to become self-learners. NCFSE needs to provide guidelines to incorporate environment education and the UN Sustainable Development Goals into school curriculums. Children from primary through higher secondary, need to acquire the knowledge and skills to contribute meaningfully to achieve the SDGs. I hope the new NCFSE will give a strong push to competency and skill development in primary-secondary education. This will improve children’s employability and entrepreneurship skills.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Shishir Jaipuria

Shishir Jaipuria Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions Shishir Jaipuria is chairman of the Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions which comprise 19 schools, five preschools, two B-schools and a teacher training academy with a total of 20,000 students. Also chairman of FICCI ARISE (Alliance for Reimagining School Education). NEP 2020 has mandated that “curriculum content” is reduced in all subjects to “enhance essential learning and critical thinking”. Therefore, I expect the new NCFSE to prune content load. This will benefit schools across the country. They can use the time saved to encourage discussion, debate, experimentation, tinkering. This will surely improve the thinking and problem solving skills of our children. I expect the new curriculum national framework to prepare India’s children for Industry 4.0 by introducing digital literacy, computational thinking, financial literacy, communication, collaboration, higher order thinking, and creativity skills. The NCFSE and NCF should suggest ways and means to teach social, emotional, ethical learning and global citizenship. Additionally, it should advise teachers to look out for skill development internships and vocational education opportunities for their pupils. A notable feature of NEP 2020 is the high importance accorded to multidisciplinary education. I am looking forward to NCFSE to make this happen by providing students flexibility to learn subjects of their interest. For instance, a student learning physics should also be free to study history or geography which will be given marks/credits. To raise Indian K-12 teaching-learning standards to global norms, the NCF should provide guidelines on how to introduce new pedagogies, subjects and new assessment methodologies into Indian education. Teachers should be provided broad guidelines to integrate UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into their curriculums. Beyond knowledge and skills, NCFSE should also suggest how to integrate value-based education into class curriculums to develop sensitive, empathic, ethical and responsible citizens. Moreover, as prescribed in NEP 2020, the new framework should recommend ways and means to integrate Indian heritage, culture, pluralism and knowledge systems into school curriculums.

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National curriculum framework for school education great expectations: Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray

Lt. Gen. Arjun Ray CEO, Indus Trust Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Arjun Ray, PVSM, VSM is chief executive and managing director of the Indus Trust (regstd.2001). Over the past two decades the trust has promoted the IB (Geneva)-affiliated Indus International Schools in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune which host an aggregate 2,900 children from over 30 countries. Entrepreneurial skills. I hope the imminent NCFSE will highlight the importance of developing children’s entrepreneurial skills and competencies, creativity, critical thinking, innovation and ability to reskill and upskill. Primary-secondary education needs to be redesigned to re-build the entrepreneurial traditions of India. Exams and assessments. School exams countrywide should test students’ ability to apply, evaluate, analyse, and infer, instead of memorisation skills. Testing and assessment should be continuous. Inclusion and diversity. With rapid globalisation, cultural boundaries have blurred, and schools have students from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The new national curriculum should include content which will teach children to appreciate our rich and diverse cultures. Research. NEP 2020 accords high importance to research in higher education. In my opinion, a culture of reading, research and project-based learning must start in secondary school. The new national curriculum should encourage children to create new knowledge and apply it. Integrate thinking skills. The new NCF should stimulate the creation of content that encourages children to think and learn differently. It is important for students to unlearn rote learning. This can happen only if they are encouraged to question the relevance of knowledge, cultural biases and mental conditioning.

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Union Budget 2023-24: 260 million children shortchanged. again.

Although finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman seems to have pleased India Inc with her Budget 2023-24 tax and spend proposals, following a long and negligent tradition of North Block, Delhi, she has paid scant attention to the education sector writes Dilip Thakore The Union Budget 2023-24 presented to Parliament last month has — as usual — been widely acclaimed by captains of industry and media pundits. Not entirely without cause this time. There is undoubtedly substance in the comment that it’s the best of the five consecutive budgets presented by Finance Minister Dr. Nirmala Sitharaman. She has pleasantly surprised all by her able management — especially compared to her predecessors P. Chidambaram and incompetent Pranab Mukherjee — of this vitally important ministry since she was moved from the defence ministry to North Block, Delhi five years ago. It’s pertinent to bear in mind that during her tenure, she had to guide the economy through two years of the pandemic when business and industry was severely disrupted by lockdown of factories and business establishments and education institutions to prevent the deadly Covid-19 virus from decimating the country’s population. A substantial measure of credit for keeping the economy on even keel despite the unprecedented GDP contraction of 6.6 percent in 2020-21 and subsequently firing the idling engines of the economy which is now reportedly the fastest growing worldwide (forecast at 6.8 percent in 2023-24 by IMF), must be awarded to her. That the Indian economy has recovered its momentum even as most other countries around the world are experiencing recessionary conditions is substantially true. As reported in Budget 2023-24, the Centre’s tax revenue in 2022-23 at Rs.41.87 lakh crore is 6.2 percent higher than the budgeted Rs.39.44 lakh crore and 4.06 percent higher than in 2021-22. This is proof that Indian industry has recovered its momentum. It also reflects tax collection efficiency and that teething problems of switching to the CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) indirect tax system in 2017, have been sorted. CGST contributed Rs.26.71 lakh crore (upto January 2023) to total tax collection of Rs.37.91 lakh crore. It rebounds to the BJP government’s credit that cascading sales taxes which artificially pushed up the price of goods and services for decades, have been abolished. The fact that the CGST payments system has been successfully digitalised is an additional bonus. Moreover even if imperceptibly, the agriculture sector (over 60 percent of the population is engaged in agriculture and allied activities) is also steadily adopting new digital technologies. In Budget 2023-24, on the expenditure side, prime importance has been accorded to capital spending which will have a strong multiplier effect within the economy. The Centre’s effective capital expenditure outlay for this year at Rs.13.70 lakh crore is 30 percent higher than in 2022-23 and 153.7 percent higher than in the pre-pandemic fiscal year (2019-20). This is an especially commendable feature of Union Budget 2023-24. Despite a General Election scheduled for summer 2024, the Modi government has resisted the temptation to present a…

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Silent spectators

Even if they read the tragic story of Rajendra Tukaram Chavan, a Nashik (Maharashtra)-based farmer who travelled 70 km to the Solapur APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Centre) to sell 512 kg of painstakingly grown onions, readers of this top-selling daily — (ToI, 24/2) — overwhelmingly indifferent, urban middle class citizens — are unlikely to lose any sleep over it. Chavan was disbursed a cheque of Rs.2.49 from APMC. This story has been repeating countrywide for over seven decades. Typically, the ToI narrative didn’t include the back story of open, uninterrupted and continuous neglect of the agriculture sector under the Nehruvian socialist development model which has beggared the nation, and continuously short-changed rural India. To understand Rajendra Chavan’s predicament, it’s pertinent to remember that Mahatma Gandhi repeatedly advised that free India’s economic development effort should start in its villages. But this proposal was rubbished by the newly independent country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru — the indulged Harrow School and Cambridge (UK)-educated only son of influential Congress party leader Motilal Nehru. After Gandhi was assassinated in 1948 and Sardar Patel — who had good understanding of India’s private enterprise business tradition — passed away in 1950, under Nehru’s stewardship the country officially adopted the “socialistic pattern of society”. As a result, national including agriculture, savings (and huge foreign loans) were canalised into giant public sector enterprises run by business-illiterate IAS officers and government clerks. Unsurprisingly they went into the red from day one. Simultaneously, a strangulating licence-permit-quota raj was imposed on private industry. As a result, rural India has been losing 40-50 percent of its horticulture produce valued at Rs.75,000 crore per year before it gets to market. In the US, Brazil and other countries which are major fruit and vegetable producers, Mr. Chavan’s onions would have been purchased at good price by an agro processing company. Powerful fresh produce vendors’ lobbies have continuously blocked the growth of a downstream food processing industry Meanwhile academia pundits and the intelligentsia are silent.

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Simpleton leader

There’s a deep and deepening sickness within middle class India. It is prompting this 300 million-strong and growing class to speed like demented lemmings towards self-destruction. Whenever an individual of Indian origin makes it big abroad — as in the latest case of Ajay Banga, former CEO of Mastercard, selected by US President Joe Biden to head the World Bank — there is nationwide jubilation. But if a native Indian makes it big like business tycoon Gautam Adani recently, allegations of influence-peddling, fraud, stock-price manipulation and skullduggery disrupt Parliament and dominate media headlines. Adani is accused of artificially boosting the market value of the equity shares of group companies and running up huge debts by pledging inflated value shares as collateral. Yet the plain truth is that the Adani Group has tangible, high value fixed assets worth billions. This has not prevented India’s allegedly educated middle class from dumping Adani Group shares en massse. According to Rahul Gandhi, leader of the opposition Congress party, Adani made his billions because of the grace and favour of prime minister Narendra Modi. How can this simpleton understand that the most the PM can do for Adani is to put in a word to grant a licence or two. The PM can’t run ports, manage power plants, and raise money for Adani. It is his extraordinary business management capabilities that have enabled his ascent up the Forbes rich list. Not that Adani is entirely blameless. What’s the point of being the world’s richest individual if you can’t hit back? The deafening silence from Ahmedabad is disappointing.

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Multiplying Mir Jafars

It’s well established that British rule over India began with the victory of Robert Clive, manager of a trading outpost (‘factory’) of the East India Company in the Battle of Plassey (1757). At Plassey 3,000 Brit and Indian troops hired to provide security to the factory, defeated the 50,000-strong army of Siraj-ud-Daula, Nawab of Bengal. This improbable victory was enabled by the treachery of Mir Jafar, a celebrated General of the Nawab’s army. Like dragons teeth, a million Mir Jafars are sprouting in post-independence India. This lament is provoked by the lack of gratitude and cooperation from leaders of all the great estates of the realm, experienced by your editor. Rightly or wrongly your editor believes that QEFA (quality education for all) is the essential precondition of national (not merely middle class) development. Yet despite EW established as India’s #1 education news publication of 22 years vintage, neither PM Modi nor any BJP Union education minister has conceded an interview to explain complex education legislation. Ditto numerous vice chancellors of publicly-funded universities including IISc, IITs, IIMs. However Mir Jafars are most pervasive in India Inc. Despite your correspondent in previous avatars as founding-editor of Business India and Businessworld having played a major role in freeing India Inc from the chains of licence-permit-control raj and the ceiling on managerial remuneration, few corporate leaders have extended a helping hand by way of interview, funding offer, advertising or even corporate subscription. Two months ago, your editor wrote personalised letters to the chairmen/CEOs of India’s Top 100 companies to subscribe one copy of EW (Rs.1,700 per annum) for display in their reception rooms to spread awareness of our Quality Education for All (QEFA) mission. There’s not been a single response to date. It’s difficult to believe that leaders of India’s Top 100 companies can’t discern the connection between QEFA and national prosperity. Without one billion high quality human resources the PM’s $30 trillion GDP target by 2047 is doomed to failure. A root cause is that Mir Jafars are multiplying.

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United Kingdom: Post-study work visa debate

UK government departments have been asked to set out their position on student visa reforms. The Home Office is pressing for restrictions, with opposition to post-study work limitations said to be coming from an array of departments including the Treasury. The Times reports that Indian origin Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has proposed reducing the time that overseas students can stay in the UK after completing their courses under the graduate visa route from two years to six months, a plan “strongly opposed” by the Department for Education. Previous calls from Braverman for a student visa “crackdown”, aired in the press from autumn to Christmas last year, were regarded as “noise” — with no government machinery turning to implement such plans. However, Times Higher Education understands that on January 20, government departments were formally asked to outline their positions on visa policy options. It is thought that not just the Department for Education (DfE), but a range of departments including the Treasury, the Department for International Trade and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy — fearing damage to the UK’s economic position — are opposed to the Home Office plan on reducing the time allowed under the graduate visa route. Opposition is said to be less strong to reform of the rules on overseas students’ rights to bring dependants into the UK — and sector sources are hopeful that change in this area will be the option 10 Downing Street chooses, rather than targeting the graduate visa route. No.10 is expected to make a decision soon. The Times reports that Indian origin prime minister Rishi Sunak asked the Home Office and the DfE to submit proposals for reducing the number of international students coming to the UK. It said there are concerns that the 2019 target to recruit 600,000 overseas students annually by 2030, met last year, has been “too successful”. Sunak and Braverman are alarmed by rising net migration figures, which include students. Figures published in November showed net migration had risen to 504,000 last year. On dependants, Braverman reportedly wants to change the rules so only overseas students studying in postgraduate programmes of at least two years can bring family with them. The proposal to reduce the number of additional family members entering the country comes after figures showed a tripling in visas issued to students’ dependants, with 70 percent of all dependants coming from Nigeria and India. Universities would be quite content to see another of the changes reportedly being sought by Braverman — barring students from switching to a work visa in the UK until they have finished their course — which they had long warned was a problem with the scheme.

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Hind Swaraj revisited

POLITICS, ETHICS AND THE SELF: RE-READING GANDHI’S HIND SWARAJ Rajeev Bhargava Routledge Rs.1,595 Pages 370 The views of several pundits and distinguished scholars are included in this compendium which revisits Mahatma Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj Hind Swaraj is one of those key texts published in the 20th century, which on the one hand, was denounced by many critics, and at the same time, attracted numerous scholars and activists, who have been exploring an alternative model of modernism. In this book, Gandhi critically evaluates modern civilisation and technologies related to it and questions modern conceptions of religion, nationalism, and prevalent violence to counter the unjust and exploitative system. Indeed, this is a serious attempt to counter the dominance of western epistemology of knowledge through an alternative model, which aims to decolonise the minds of Indians and of other erstwhile colonised societies. Due to this reason, various scholars have continuously discussed the ideas of Hind Swaraj and emphatically underscored its continuous relevance. The book under review is based on the proceedings of a conference organised by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (Delhi) in 2009 to commemorate the centenary of Hind Swaraj. Essentially, different chapters in the volume attempt to explore the enthralling, subtle, and deeply interesting dialogue set up by Gandhi between reader and editor on the strength and limitations of modern western civilisation — its power, seduction, and deep immorality. It is pertinent to ask what was the fundamental purpose Gandhi had behind writing Hind Swaraj. Though there is no perfect answer to this question, several pundits have tried to analyse various facets and present answers. All the essays in this volume share the understanding that Gandhi is at once throwing a profound and fundamental challenge to complex and deep-rooted aspects of modernity, while also offering an alternative model. For Gandhi, civilisation is a mode of conduct that points to man his path of duty, but modern civilisation lacks this basic key feature. Several chapters of this volume have tried to evaluate the meaning of modernity and the reasons behind Gandhi being its principal opponent. The Rudolphs underline how Gandhi found that modern civilisation puts too much emphasis on world mastery, which makes it deeply negative and harmful. However, Akeel Bilgrami argues that rather than being a reactionary opponent of modernity, Gandhi presented a progressive critique, and he focused on folk religiosity as a way of overcoming alienation created by modern civilisation. Indeed, Gandhi repeatedly draws attention to the insatiable thirst for resources and consumption created by modernism, which was responsible for conquest of countries like India. Ajay Skaria proposes that Gandhi’s critique of modern civilisation should be understood as a fierce critique of secular humanism, which posits that human beings have freedom and the capacity of infinitisation. Gandhi believed that contemporary civilization based on such ideas is pitiable and threatens the very foundation of civilisation and has degraded and ruined the nations of Europe. Hind Swaraj also emphasises that modern civilisation has instrumentalised human relations and reduced…

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Devalued national hero

Gautam adani: reimagining business in india & the world R.N. Bhaskar PENGUIN Rs.699 Pages 311 One hopes that this biography will persuade the citizenry into believing that 21st century India needs 1,000×2 As (Ambani & Adani) to fulfill its full potential This is a timely, well-researched and engagingly written biography on this eponymous business tycoon who since January 24, has experienced a steep decline of fortune, hitherto one of the largest of the contemporary world. In the past three weeks — until mid-February when this review was being written — Ahmedabad-based super-charged entrepreneur Gautam Adani’s net worth plunged from $19 billion (Rs.1.55 lakh crore) to $10 billion. From being the world’s third wealthiest individual in the global rich list published periodically by Forbes, a US-based business fortnightly, Adani’s rank in the league table has plunged to #17. This contretemps prompted cancellation of a mega Rs.20,000 crore ($2.4 billion) FPO (follow public issue) of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the flagship ‘incubator’ company of the Adani Group. This precipitous fall in the fortune of the most enterprising, go-getting business leader of recent years whose brilliantly strategised ventures in core infrastructure industries — sea-ports, coal, power generation and transmission, green energy, cement production, data sciences, edible oil imports — kept the economy and stock market afloat during the pandemic lockdown, is the consequence of a report published by Hindenburg Research, a tiny (five employees) US-based finance company. The report which has gone viral on social and print media alleges that Adani companies are ‘over-valued’ by mysterious offshore companies. According to Hinderburg, artificially boosted prices have been used to raise a mountain of debt by Adani, especially abroad. This biography under review penned by R.N. Bhaskar — an experienced journalist (Business India, Free Press Journal) — was published in late 2022, well before the current debacle. Reading it is likely to persuade readers that failure of the FPO and recent setbacks notwithstanding, the Adani growth story is not over. Indeed, this reviewer hopes it will persuade a soft-headed citizenry into believing that 21st century India needs 1,000 x 2As (Ambani and Adani) to fulfil its full potential and destiny. By any yardstick, the rise of Gautam Adani, the fifth child of Shantilal Adani, an Ahmedabad commodities trader of “limited means”, to #3 in the Forbes rich list within three decades is extraordinary. It is in the tradition of G.D. Birla, Walchand Hirachand, Lala Shri Ram, J.N. Tata and a host of other enterprising businessmen who in the years between the two World Wars, established large business conglomerates in the teeth of opposition by minions of the British Raj. Yet perhaps more accurately, Adani is more reminiscent of his hero and role model, the late Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002). From an Aden-based petrol pump attendant and later yarn trader, denied funding by government-controlled term lending institutions and banks, Ambani went over their heads to the public to raise mountains of money. Before he died in 2002, he grew Reliance Industries (RIL) into one of the…

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Nigeria: NewGlobe pedagogy revolution

“Good job you!” shouts Pauline Bika, as a group of schoolchildren completes the hokey-cokey. “Good job me!” choruses her class. Bika runs a small government primary school in Edo state, in southern Nigeria. It is reached by a mud track that starts not far outside Benin city, the state capital. Her school has 140 pupils, but only three teachers. For all that it lacks, Ms Bika’s school has one advantage. At the start of last year, the Edo state education ministry gave all her teachers a small (digital) tablet with a black-and-white touch screen. Every two weeks, they use it to download detailed scripts that guide every lesson they deliver. These scripts tell the teachers what to say, what to write on the blackboard, and even when to walk around the classroom. Ms Bika says this new way of working is saving teachers time that they used to spend scribbling their own lesson plans — and her pupils are reading better, too. The reforms in Edo began in 2018. Godwin Obaseki, the State governor, says poor schools are one reason youngsters leave the state for greener pastures (some fall victim to people-traffickers promising better lives in Europe). Since then, the government has provided tablets and training to over 15,000 teachers. They in turn have given the new lessons to more than 300,000 children, most of them in primary school. On any given day, pupils throughout the state receive identical lessons, as dictated by the tablet. The training and technology are provided by NewGlobe, an education company founded in 2007 by three Americans. NewGlobe developed its approach while running a chain of low-cost private schools, mostly in Kenya, under the brand Bridge International Academies. A study by academics including Michael Kremer, a development economist at the University of Chicago, found that, over two years, children who attended NewGlobe’s primary schools made gains equivalent to almost a whole year of extra schooling, compared with their peers in other schools. Though Edo was the first state in Nigeria to strike a deal with the firm, NewGlobe’s pedagogy has since also been applied in Lagos, the country’s biggest city. The firm is starting work in Manipur, a state in north-eastern India, and in Rwanda. Around a million children are now studying in classrooms that use NewGlobe’s model — far more than its private schools have ever been able to reach. Although it seems able to find plenty of clients, the company provokes ferocious arguments among educators. Its private schools have long faced energetic opposition from trade unions and some international NGOs, many of whom hate the idea of profit-seeking companies playing any role in education. Dennis Sinyolo of Education International, a global group of teachers’ unions, says scripted lessons “undermine teaching” and encourage “rote learning and exam drilling”. He says good lesson plans are written to match local contexts, and the needs of individual students. The freedom to change tack mid-lesson is invaluable if a lesson plan is not working. “There’s no one-size-fits-all in…

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Afghanistan: Varsities downing shutters

The majority of Afghanistan’s private universities face imminent closure, with their incomes having plunged following the Taliban’s decision to ban women from higher education. The country’s union of private universities said in December that the ban could force 35 out of 140 institutions with 70,000 female students on their rolls, to shutter doors. But academics say the actual number of closures is likely to be much higher, with some suggesting that the union may have come under pressure from the Taliban to provide a low estimate. Several researchers speaking with Times Higher Education believed that the recent ban on women in universities is likely to be the “last straw” for the majority of private institutions. Before the ban, women made up roughly 30 percent of Afghanistan’s university students, across public and private universities. But the number of female students at some private institutions was much higher. Already, there have been reports of several universities shutting down. The Moraa Educational Complex, which includes a female-only university in Kabul, has allegedly closed all but one of its faculties. At the Afghan Swiss University, the medical faculty is closed to all students, while the faculties of medicine at Dawat University and Khatam Al-Nabieen University — both have large numbers of women students — have informed their students that they will be forced to shutter if the situation continues. Although male students whose universities close may be able to continue their studies elsewhere in the country, no such option exists for Afghan women. They have been shut out of education and public life. Meanwhile, several Iranian universities across the border have offered to host Afghan women. Combined with an already established Afghan diaspora in the country, the offer of free higher education is “likely” to increase the flow of Afghan refugees into Iran, says Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, professor in global thought and comparative philosophies, at SOAS University of London and author of What Is Iran (2021).

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China: Online degree bans fallout

China has abruptly withdrawn its Covid-era endorsement of remotely delivered tertiary education. This order is likely to galvanise international enrolments in Western countries while straining university admissions services, visa processing and flight and housing availability. Beijing authorities have reversed a 2020 rule change that allowed for the local accreditation of degrees and higher education diplomas taught online by universities and colleges in other parts of the world. The new arrangements, revealed in a “special announcement” posted in late January on the Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE) website, apply from the main autumn semester to institutions based in the southern hemisphere and affect both new and continuing enrolments. “Students should return to school as soon as possible,” advises an attached document. This gives Chinese students enrolled at Australian universities between two and four weeks to relocate Down Under in time to start or resume face-to-face classes. Phil Honeywood, chief executive of the International Education Association of Australia, says that while China has “never been comfortable with online learning”, educators had expected a transition period before reversion to usual arrangements. “Such a rapid pivot back to regulated face-to-face learning requirements will definitely create challenges for our education providers and our visa processing. Nonetheless, it will be welcomed by most stakeholders.” Federal government statistics say that as many as 40,000 of some 119,000 Chinese student visa holders were located outside Australia in mid-November. Chinese citizens account for the bulk of the 62,000 foreign higher ed students currently based elsewhere. Their ready embrace of online education surprised many, and it cushioned Covid’s impact on Australian universities’ bottom lines. Diplomats had warned that Beijing’s endorsement of online degrees wouldn’t last forever, but the rapid reversal reflects speedy dismantling of China’s pandemic regime. Australian universities have until mid-2023 to meet rules requiring them to deliver at least two-thirds of foreign students’ degrees conventionally. YTT programme failing China’s most prominent talent recruitment programme is still failing to lure ‘top’ global scientists back to the country, a study has found. Established in 2010 as a key pillar of Beijing’s Thousand Talents Programme, the Young Thousand Talents (YTT) initiative seeks to recruit science and technology experts from abroad, especially Chinese expatriates. In the West, the initiative has come under scrutiny from lawmakers, who fear espionage and intellectual property theft amid rising geopolitical tensions. But research suggests that YTT is not yet attracting cream of the crop. “Although designed to improve China’s prospect of becoming a global STEM leader, the programme’s effectiveness in attracting top talents and nurturing their productivity is unclear,” write academics in the journal Science. Yanbo Wang, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s business school, and Dongbo Shi, assistant professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, examined researchers’ motives for turning down the invitation, which includes a one-off, tax-exempt income subsidy of 500,000 yuan (Rs.60 lakh) and start-up grants of 1 million yuan to 3 million yuan. Dr. Wang and his colleague surveyed more than 400 researchers who were approached for the programme’s…

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United States: Guns on campus controversy

American public universities are fighting new attempts to allow guns on campuses, with conservative state lawmakers undeterred by research data and clear opposition from institutional leaders. The most recent instance involves West Virginia, where the state senate voted 29-4 in favour of legislation to let people bring firearms on to college and university campuses, despite opposition from state university leaders. The Bill heads next to the state legislature’s other chamber, the House of Delegates, which is also overwhelmingly dominated by Republicans. The US already has about a dozen states that permit guns on college campuses, with lawmakers in several others already trying or expected to pursue the idea this year, according to the activist group Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus. “The gun lobby is trying to find as many places as possible where people can carry,” says the organisation’s executive director Andy Pelosi. In West Virginia, the presidents of the state’s two largest higher education institutions — West Virginia University and Marshall University — wrote to lawmakers urging them not to pass the Bill. Governing boards “are best suited to decide whether guns should be permitted on campus”, Gordon Gee and Brad Smith told senators. West Virginia University’s faculty senate also approved a resolution opposing the Bill. States that already allow guns on the campuses of their public colleges and universities include Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. New York lawmakers are being asked to join these states, despite the state’s Democratic majority, while more plausible campaigns appear possible this year in several other states, including Iowa, Kentucky, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina and South Dakota. Idaho lawmakers are considering legislation that would stop colleges putting limits on where guns can be carried. The fatal shootings in May 2022 of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, seems to have sparked increased political interest in allowing guns (for self-defense) in educational settings, says Cheryl Jonson, associate professor of criminal justice at Ohio’s Xavier University. However, Andy Pelosi’s group and others argue that despite more than 40,000 gun deaths per year, university campuses are among the safest places to be. And there’s no clear evidence — despite West Virginia lawmakers pushing their Campus Self-Defense Act on the grounds that it will help women deter sexual violence — that guns make college campuses safer, says Pelosi. Women’s advocacy groups instead are among numerous campus constituencies especially opposed to such laws, he says, fearing that gun permissiveness will help arm their potential attackers. Also Read: Harvard University announces first black president Claudine Gay

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People

Edupreneur programs innovator

-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) Pennsylvania (USA)-based Barbara ‘Bobbi’ KurshAn is senior innovations advisor of the UPenn Graduate School of Education’s Global Entrepreneurship & Innovation Certificate program. According to her, this is a pioneer online program for education leaders, administrators, edupreneurs, researchers and investors. Newspeg. Last December, Kurshan was in Bengaluru to lead a two-day Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conclave for School Leaders hosted by the top-ranked K-12 Inventure Academy. The conclave attracted school leaders, subject and curriculum development experts from across India. UPenn’s objective is to generate awareness about the Penn GSE Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program. History. A math, computer science and curriculum alumna of Tulane (New Orleans) and Virginia Tech universities, Kurshan began her career in 1976 teaching at her alma mater. After a three-year teaching stint in Virginia Tech, she moved on to serve in leadership roles in edtech companies, for-profits, non-profits, private equity firms and educational institutions. In 1986, she went solo and promoted Educorp Consultants (ECC). She started ECC by developing software for IT behemoth Microsoft Inc’s children’s products, a bundle of products for Apple, among other digital learning products and services, while simultaneously designing curriculums and pedagogies. In 2018, she was appointed Senior Innovations advisor at UPenn GSE and was assigned responsibility to design and develop innovative curriculums for edupreneurs in the UAE, India and China. Direct talk. “Modelled on UPenn GSE’s acclaimed advanced degree program in Education Entrepreneurship, our interactive online schools’ development program blends UPenn’s education, business, design, and engineering curriculums and research, to develop thoroughly contemporary scalable schools. Designed in a high-flex model with six customisable modules, the program uses UPenn’s lean startup curriculum, design thinking, and project-based learning. The entrepreneurship and innovation certificate programme is custom-made for entrepreneurs in education, researchers and investors, and people interested in enhancing learning outcomes in formal/informal education,” says Kurshan. Future plans. With the first UPenn GSE conclave in India receiving acclamation, Kurshan believes that GSE’s business is set for growth. “There’s new and spreading awareness of the critical importance of well-trained teachers to improve learning outcomes in India’s K-12 education, especially schools. Going forward, I intend to continue our efforts to improve the learning outcomes of the world’s largest child and youth population which exceeds the total population of the US,” says Kurshan. A bearer of gifts indeed!

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Go-getting edupreneur: Sneha Biswas

-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) Sneha Biswas is founder-CEO of the Bengaluru-based Early Steps Academy Pvt. Ltd (ESA, estb.2021). ESA is an ambitious education start-up that offers a unique after-school online programme modeled on Harvard-style case studies to children in the 8-18 years age group worldwide. Backed by marquee global investors including Beenext (Singapore) and Taurus Ventures (US), ESA is also a Sequoia Spark company — a Sequoia Capital initiative to inspire women in India and South-east Asia to become entrepreneurs. ESA’s flagship programme is a seven-levels (52-week) online programme. It comprises one online class every week with subscriber children given access to global case studies and the ESA learning platform. To date, 35,000 children in 47 countries have signed up with ESA. Newspeg. Last November Biswas signed several collaboration agreements with primary-secondaries in the UAE and India to “introduce the early steps way of learning 21st century subjects and skills. Unlike our flagship programme, this initiative involves self-learning and teacher assisted modules for several subjects and skills,” says Biswas. History. An engineering and business management alumna of IIT-Kharagpur and the blue-chip Harvard Business School (USA), Jamshedpur-born Biswas began her academic career by tutoring IIT-JEE aspirants in Jamshedpur (2006-2007). This was followed by a three-month stint with the famous Teach for India, Mumbai. In 2011, she was campus recruited by oil and gas major Schlumberger Ltd. Posted in this giant multinational’s international offices, she acquired wide and enriching business experience in the US, Mozambique, Kenya, India and London. In 2018, Biswas signed up with Harvard Business School (HBS) where the Early Steps Academy project was conceptualised. “I became aware that good quality education is the prerequisite of personal and national development,” recalls Biswas. In 2020, she joined the management consultancy firm Bain & Co in Houston (USA). A few months later, she quit and returned to India in 2021. ESA was registered that very year. Direct talk. ESA’s global curriculum — “one curriculum for the world” — delivered centrally, acquaints children with a diverse menu of contemporary subjects including entrepreneurship, cryptocurrency, climate change, space tech and applied math. They are taught through the case study methodology which combines classroom concepts and application. The global curriculum was incubated in Harvard. “In schools worldwide, children are learning the curriculum their parents were taught, a generation earlier. Therefore, it’s difficult to encourage children to learn how to think and question independently. The objective of ESA’s supplementary after-school programme is to boost children’s confidence in the real world by introducing them to a range of modern subjects and 21st century skills that also develop skills that employers will value in the future,” says Biswas. Future plans. Encouraged by the excellent public response to ESA’s global curriculum, Biswas is bullish about the future. “By the end of 2023, our target is to double the number of ESA online subscribers by reaching children in 100 countries. Moreover, during the next five years, we will develop course content in languages other than English,” says this go-getting edupreneur.

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Accounting certification leader

-Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) Varun Jain is founder-CEO of the Bangalore-based Miles Education Pvt. Ltd (ME, estb.2011, head count: 600). Miles Ed is an an edtech company that provides undergrads and working professionals training — in hybrid mode — to acquire globally accepted accounting certification (CPA, CMA, CFA, FRM) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Institute of Management Accountancy, Chartered Financial Institute and Global Association of Risk Professionals. In the past 12 years, Miles Ed has established offices in Dubai, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Delhi, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Chennai among other cities worldwide. It has also signed agreements with over 70 universities and autonomous colleges in India and the US, and partnered with over 220 multinational corporates to train their employees. To date, Miles Ed has upskilled over 40,000 youth worldwide. Newspeg. Last August, Miles Ed launched its Pathway to Work initiative in the US for its first cohort of 27 CPA certified professionals. History. A commerce graduate of the Indian Institute of Management & Commerce, Hyderabad, Jain began his career in 2006 at Deloitte, Hyderabad. That very year, Jain emplaned for the US to write the AICPA’s CPA exams and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant. The CPA certification fetched him a high-profile job as an investment banker with Morgan Stanley, Mumbai. When the company issued a transfer order to the London office in 2009, Jain put in his papers to transform into an agent of change in India. Two years later after researching and designing curriculum content, ME was registered. Its mission is to Make an Impact, promote Leadership and teamwork and Excel in the Services (Miles) it provides. In 2016 Jain signed up for Harvard Business School’s senior executive leadership program. Direct talk. “There is huge demand for CPAs in India. Already unimaginable accounting work is being outsourced to India from around the world. The objective of Miles Ed is to build a talent supply chain and transform India into a powerhouse for finance & accounting professionals. Currently, India is known as the world’s best back office for IT services. By tapping into India’s huge pool of finance and accounting talent, we can strive to become the world’s best back and front office for accounting services as well,” says Jain. Future plans. Looking ahead, Jain believes that the world is his oyster. “Currently there is a huge shortage of accountants in the US with close to 60,000 job openings for certified CPAs. Seizing this opportunity, I intend to focus on training accounting professionals for the CPA programme. My target is to train and certify 100,000 CPA professionals over the next five years,” says Jain.

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