Education

Why should students come to a campus? Instead, can the campus go to a student, wherever they may be? That was the question that triggered the Long Distance Programme (LDP) pioneered by Prof Ranjan Das, a strategy management guru at IIM Calcutta. LDPs are management education programmes where participants log in from remote locations to listen to lectures by the professors of IIMC. Prof Ranjan Das strongly believed that the existing form of MBA education is keeping out a very large segment of Indian society. By partnering with delivery providers like Hughes and NIIT, Prof Das created a unique learning…

This is the second of a two part story on the Delhi government’s initiative in introducing Entrepreneurship Mindset Classes for school students of classes 11-12. You can read the first part here. Students are clearly smitten by what is expected of them in this programme seeking to encourage and nurture entrepreneurial mindset.  “People study, work hard and pass exams, yet very few get jobs, and fewer of them get decent jobs,” says Khushi, a student of the government-run School of Excellence in Kalkaji. “If this curriculum and the Business Blasters makes me a business woman, I will know where I…

This is the first of a two part story on the Delhi government’s initiative in introducing Entrepreneurship Mindset Classes for school students of classes 11-12 Between June and December, when a satellite TV channel first aired its promo for the Indian version of the popular American entrepreneur reality show Shark Tank,  scores of class 11 and 12 students from Delhi government schools had pitched to “sharks” business ideas they had executed and discussed investments needed to scale up their enterprises. Many came out with flying colours in interviews that were no less gruelling than those faced by candidates who made it…

My duties as the Adjunct Professor of Marketing at SPJIMR calls for me to teach a full course to second-year students. And my course was set to start in early April 2020. I had a class of 60 students and 16 sessions to teach. Within a few days of the lockdown, students were asked to return to their home towns. The faculty were put through several sessions on ‘how to teach remotely’. Interestingly, Harvard Business School ran a whole series of webinars on how to teach using Zoom. My course started as scheduled in early April. The first few sessions…

“Primary Education is grass-roots education on which the pillars of the future get built,” says  Raghav Kataliya also known as Raghu Ramakdu (toy) of Mithyala Prathmik Shala in in Saurashtra region in western Gujarat. “I am happy that the concept I started in 2020 is now being implemented across Gujarat.” The 32-year-old math teacher is known for his creative teaching skills. For instance, he uses an umbrella to teach patterns and his shirt to teach multiplication. Worried about his primary school students missing out on their studies during the lockdown, Raghav conducted classes for his students in batches in open…

It did not last long. 10 days after the reopening of schools in Delhi for Classes 1 to 5, they had to be closed again because of severe air pollution in the national capital region. According to the latest, schools will remain closed till November 21st, but if they do reopen after that, the experiences and observations reported here from early November may well continue to present the true scenario among schools, teachers and students. Sagar and Sonali were overjoyed when they learnt that they would be going back to their school in Ghazipur from November 1st. Their mother Kriti…

The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed India’s evolving child-care ecosystem to the brink of collapse with preschools and playschools shuttered since March last year and no new admissions this academic year. According to a UNICEF report, this has impacted 28 million preschool children in anganwadi centres across the country. But while the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development issued an order in November last year, allowing all states and Union Territories to reopen anganwadis outside containment zones with immediate effect, there is still total confusion among parents, schools and policy makers on the reopening of private preschools.Having seen thriving business pre-COVID, with…

The year 2020 is certainly one that will not be forgotten soon for the changes it brought in our daily routines, work and relationships. The challenges faced by school going children and their parents have been particularly severe, given the nearly 18 month closure of schools. Now, as schools reopen gradually, the challenges faced by parents of a school-going child are even tougher. Parents remain divided over the decision to reopen schools. Medical experts are also divided on whether or not parents should send their children to school, to avoid any kind of mental stress that can occur due to…

Since the first case of COVID in January 2020 and the national lockdown from March 2020, there has been a barrage of guidelines, rules and regulations for every sector and every aspect of our lives. Yet, preschools and daycare centres, a lifeline for working parents, were totally overlooked. Preschools have neither figured in any notification nor in any help package. A staggering number of such centres in the city have closed down. The staff, owners, parents and most importantly the children, have all been adversely affected. Informal estimates from discussions with preschool owners indicate that over 4000 preschools and daycares…

Saili and Mayank [names changed] live in a Mumbai slum, with their parents in a meagre dwelling, hardly 10ft x 10ft, divided into a bedroom and kitchen. They study in class 3 and class 7 respectively, in nearby schools. Scratch that. They are enrolled in schools would be more accurate, as any meaningful study or education has come to a stand-still since the school closure which began in March 2020.  Their parents manage to earn about Rs 30,000 a month for the family, and luckily do not have the burden of school fee expenses, as they have been enrolled under…