Page 38 - EW March 2025

Cover Story

been buried within the world’s largest
neglected child and youth population.
Within this small community of
genuine intellectuals and vision-
ary edupreneurs, there is dawning
awareness that provided enabling
infrastructure, nurturance and expert
mentoring, they have high-potential
capability to engineer science and
technology breakthroughs to fire the
engines of industrial and economic
growth, and leapfrog the also-ran In-
dian economy to the forefront of the
international development race. They
are lackadaisical India’s best bet to
break out of the middle income trap
to attain Prime Minister Modi’s Viksit
Bharat and $30 trillion GDP by 2047
goals.
The success of diaspora Indi- NIAS-EGT programme children: noteworthy but under-publicised
ans in software, business, academia
and politics in developed countries advanced learners with higher or- Since then, 15 more ALCs have been
around the world, emergence of test der thinking skills in classes IV-VIII set up across India and ten more are
cricket, badminton, field hockey, ath- through its annual ASSET Talent imminent.
letics champions who have overcome Search exam and provides the top 2 The US-based National Association
overwhelming odds to rise to global percent enrichment workshops and for Gifted Children (NAGC) defines
greatness, is fuelling awareness of the access to programmes conducted by gifted. “Gifted individuals demon-
importance of discovering, nurturing universities in India and abroad; the strate outstanding levels of aptitude
and mentoring India’s hidden millions Lodha Foundation, Mumbai, which (defined as an exceptional ability
of gifted children with global game- provides high-potential class IX-XII to reason and learn) or competence
changing potential. students four-weeks residential learn- (documented performance or achieve-
L AST YEAR, SHEEL MEHTA private Ashoka University, Sonipat, one or more domains. These domains
ing programmes at the top-ranked
ment in the top 10 percent or rarer) in
(14), a gifted class IX stu-
and the Bangalore-based National
include but are not limited to math-
dent of Ahmedabad Inter-
In sum, gifted children are endowed
whose Education for the Gifted and
national School, won an Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) ematics, music, language, or the arts.”
entry to the World Robotics Olympiad Talented (EGT) program was institut- with advanced inherent cognitive
(WRO) 2024 finals staged in Turkey. ed in 2011 to identify children in the capability, creativity, and problem-
Similarly, a large number of students 0-18 age group countrywide and nur- solving skills. But without support and
including Aarna Malhotra (forensic ture and mentor them through enrich- mentorship, their talent could wither.
science); Rupasri Chalavadi (neuro- ment workshops held during summer Adds David Lubinski, psycholo-
science/data science); Aneesh Kamat and winter vacations (see box p.40). gist at Vanderbilt University, USA:
(quantum computing); Kshemaahna The under-publicised NIAS-EGT “Gifted students are the ‘mathletes’
Nagi (Generation Google Scholar), programme which also identifies of the world, who can shape the fu-
and world chess champion Gukesh gifted children in rural India through ture. Whether it’s healthcare, climate
Dommaraju among dozens of other its Standardised Behavioural Rating change, or energy, these are the kids
gifted youth, have debuted on the Nomination scale is especially note- with the most potential to solve these
global stage to best the best. worthy. It is a free-of-charge pro- problems.”
Coterminously several enabling or- gramme also provided in a growing Gifted education mentors are unan-
ganisations have sprung up country- number of private schools by way of imous that schools, parents, educators
wide to identify, nurture and mentor Advanced Learning Centres (ALCs). as also the larger ecosystem compris-
actual and potential gifted children. The first ALCs were set up at Vidyas- ing government and industry have an
Among them is the Bangalore- hilp Academy and Silver Oaks Inter- important role in enabling discovery,
based Educational Initiatives Pvt. national School in Bangalore and Sil- nurturance and development of gift-
Ltd (Ei, estb. 2001), which identifies ver Oaks International, Hyderabad. ed children. While schools must take

38 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2025