Page 4 - Education World September 2021

From the

Editor
THE HUMAN DEVELOPMENT MAGAZINE

Volume X XII No.9

BOARD OF ADVISORS
N.R. Narayana Murthy, H.V. Gowthama, Shukla
Bose, Dr. Glenn Christo, Dr. R. Natarajan T
(Bangalore); Adi Godrej, Dr. Augustine Pinto, he greatest tragedy of post-independence India’s national devel-
Krishan Khanna, Guilherme Vaz, Ketan Gala, opment effort is an egregious failure to develop its abundant and
Kirit Mehta, Balkishan Sharma (Mumbai); Dr.
Ramdas Pai (Manipal); Dr. Geeta Kingdon high-potential human capital. The inherent capabilities of the
(Lucknow); Rajiv Desai, Dr. Parth Shah, Jeroninio country’s people are evidenced by consistently rising agriculture
Almeida, Premchand Palety (Delhi); Dr. Kannan
Gireesh (Chennai); Robindra Subba (Kurseong); and industry output and the steady growth of the services sector
Sanjeev Bolia (Kolkata); Dr. Achyuta Samanta despite the majority populace having continuously experienced sub-optimal
(Bhubaneswar); Shyama Thakore (London)
education for over seven decades. As highlighted by eminent contemporary
EDITOR historian Dr. Ramachandra Guha in an interview with EducationWorld
Dilip Thakore (https://www.educationworld.in/educationworld-interview-with-dr-ramach-
MANAGING EDITOR andra-guha), the greatest mistake of post-independent India’s leadership was
Summiya Yasmeen failure to universalise primary education.
CHIEF SUB-EDITOR Indian society has paid a heavy price for this myopic failure to nurture
Sundar Anand and develop its human capital. In its 75th year of independence, the Republic
Paromita Sengupta, Reshma Ravishanker, Gopi ungraciously hosts the world’s largest number of comprehensive illiterates
Chand N, (Bangalore), Autar Nehru (Delhi) and total factor, industry, agriculture and government productivity is lowest
9868256512, Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)
9836491981, Shivani Chaturvedi (Chennai) among major countries. Moreover, it’s well-documented that in the country’s
9500506102, Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) 9920243111 1 million government rural primaries notorious for crumbling buildings,
CHIEF EXECUTIVE pathetic sanitation and chronic teachers truancy, over 50 percent of class V
Bhavin Shah +91 9867382867 children can’t read or understand class II textbooks or solve simple sums.
MARKETING It’s against this backdrop that Dharmendra Pradhan, hitherto Union
West: Tejas Pattni (General Manager) 9022487997 minister for petroleum and natural gas, has been appointed Union educa-
E-mail: marketing@educationworld.in tion, skills and entrepreneurship minister. In keeping with the tradition of
South India: S. Vijaya Lakshmi 98456 80696
Poonam Shah 9731966373 BJP/NDA education ministers, who know little about public accountabil-
North: Hannan Ahmed 9810302768 ity, Pradhan didn’t respond to our entreaties to grant an interview or even
GRAPHICS respond to an emailed questionnaire. This despite the unchallenged status of
Suresh K. EducationWorld (estb. 1999) as the country’s premier education news and fea-
SUBSCRIPTIONS tures publication. Nevertheless in this issue, we assess the chances of the new
Kiran Kumar: 9108225694/ education minister succeeding in overcoming two formidable challenges that
080 43711141 confront him — quickly placing the pandemic-derailed education system back
sub@educationworld.in
on the rails and simultaneously implementing the National Education Policy
ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION: RS.1700 (NEP) 2020. To enable the minister to scale these daunting peaks, we present
OVERSEAS SUBSCRIPTION: USD95
Cheques/drafts in favour of DT Media & valuable expert advice about drawing up priorities from some of the country’s
Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. Bangalore most knowledgeable and successful education leaders. In the national interest,
EDITORIAL Pradhan should heed this advice.
C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza Our constructive cover story apart, there’s much else in this autumn issue
131 Residency Road, Bangalore 560 025. of EW. The special report written by Delhi-based journalist Abhilasha Ojha
Tel: 080 22480880; Fax: 2227 5962;
E-mail: editorial@educationworld.in highlights the selfless herculean efforts of several education evangelists to
keep the flame of learning alive in rural India. Also check out the comment
Printed and published by Dilip Thakore on behalf
of DT Media & Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. columns including an abridged version of a lecture by Dr. K. Kasturirangan
Printed at Rajhans Enterprises, 134, 4th Main, In- and erudite historian Dr. Gitanajali Surendran.
dustrial Town, Rajajinagar, Bangalore-44. Published Stay well, stay safe.
at C3-36, 3rd Floor, Devatha Plaza, 131 Residency
Road. Bangalore 560 025.
Editor Dilip Thakore.
RNI No. KARENG/1999/00234
Website: www.educationworld.in

4 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2021