Page 35 - EducationWorld June 2020

vernacular content that is curriculum-aligned and free, we
have created a library of 10,000 videos called TicTacLearn
for maths and science in Hindi, English, Telugu, Odia and
Marathi for class I-X children. Several state governments
are broadcasting this video content on Doordarshan.
Major challenges confronting K-12 education in the new Covid-19
era. The education system will have to face diverse and
complex challenges in the post-Covid era. There could be
a reduction in the Central and state education budgets,
increased pressure on government schools as low-income
households may switch from private to government
schools, and all teachers will need to shoulder additional
responsibilities of ensuring social distancing, health and
nutrition.
Even online learning to which most state governments
are switching, requires some basic infrastructure that many Sanjay Ghodawat
schools and households don’t have. This is likely to exacer- Chairman, Sanjay Ghodawat Group of Institutions
bate inequity in K-12 education in the near term.
State governments’ fee waiver/deferment circulars to private anjay Ghodawat is promoter-chairman of the
school managements. The national lockdown has heavily Kolhapur-based Sanjay Ghodawat Group of
impacted budget private, aka affordable/low fee schools. SInstitutions (SGI, estb.2009) and Sanjay Gho-
These schools collect fees at the end of the academic year dawat Group of diverse food, real estate and aviation
(April), and already had pending dues from the previous business enterprises. Spread over 150 acres in Kol-
year. Consequently, the lockdown has severely hit the cash hapur, the integrated SGI campus hosts an interna-
flow of affordable private schools (APS), even as teaching tional school, engineering and management colleges,
and non-teaching staff salaries, rent and utility bills have to an IIT/medical training academy and the Sanjay
be paid. This forces APS to lay-off teachers or simply shut Ghodawat University with an aggregate enrolment
down which will seriously hurt the learning outcomes for of 15,000 students and 1,500 teachers.
millions of children attending APS. SGI’s Covid-19 response. Sanjay Ghodawat University,
Top 3 proposals for reviving and reforming the K-12 education the school and colleges have responded swiftly to the
system in India. Numerous research studies indicate that Covid-19 disruption of education. All our institu-
foundational learning is the only way to improve learning tions are making online classes available to students
outcomes of in-school children. Ensuring universal foun- to ensure teaching-learning continuity. We have also
dational literacy and numeracy skills prior to completion of released our own Ghodawat Learning App for class
class III, can bridge the wide learning gaps that exist today, XI-XII science students.
increase workforce participation and improve overall qual- Major challenges confronting Indian education. This is
ity of life. The FLN (foundation, literacy and numeracy) a good time for schools, colleges and universities
mission of the Central government has very high potential to come out of their comfort zones and use innova-
and every effort should ensure its robust implementation tive technologies to engage students. The format of
by state governments. Simultaneously, there’s a lot of work traditional classes, exams, projects and assignments
to be done to unlock the true potential of edtech to seam- needs to change to enable students to self-learn
lessly integrate conventional and online teaching-learning through research and collaboration.
in classrooms as well as at home. Technology has the
potential to provide all children access to quality education On fees waiver/deferment circulars issued by state gov-
and also enable parental engagement. Lastly, there’s urgent ernments to private school managements. We feel these
need to create an enabling environment and build a scal- directives have been given in good faith consider-
able model for the affordable private school system where ing the financial hardship being experienced by
almost 50 percent of India’s school-going children study. many households. But educational institutions also
have fixed expenses such as teachers’ salaries and
Future plans... The foundation’s prime objective is to ensure infrastructure maintenance etc. Government, school
quality school education for all children of India. I see managements and parents need to cooperate to
CSF (Central Square Foundation) playing a critical role in ensure that schools are not bankrupted.
helping to achieve universal quality education which is the
precondition of lifting a significant percentage of our popu- Proposals to revive Indian education. NCERT needs to
lation out of poverty, get jobs and lead better lives. revamp curriculums to move towards more student-
In the future, CSF will partner with more social impact centric, inter-disciplinary and holistic learning.
organisations and work with governments to build scalable, SGI’s future plans. To reach every household in the
sustainable and purposeful education institutions. We will country through our education and other products
also collaborate effectively with private sector, non-profit and services and enhance the quality of people’s
organisations and other ecosystem institutions to build lives.
research capability and develop knowledge systems.

JUNE 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 35