Page 42 - EducationWorld June 2020

Cover Story

Grace Pinto learning gaps between students,
and addressing mental strain that Hari Mohan Gupta,
Managing director, Ryan International Group teachers and students will inevi- Chairman, Jagran Social Welfare Society
of Institutions tably suffer before they become
accustomed to blended learning ublisher-editor of the Hindi
pedagogies. language daily Daink Jagran
P(Bhopal edition), Hari Mohan
Several state governments have is- Gupta is chairman of the Jagran Social
sued fees waiver/deferment circulars Welfare Society (JSWS), which has
to private school managements. promoted four Delhi Public Schools
What’s your comment? (DPS) in Madhya Pradesh (Bhopal and
It’s true that some state govern- Indore) and the state-of-the-art Jagran
ments have issued circulars offer- Lakecity University, Bhopal. Together
ing payment options to parents, these institutions have 14,000 students
but no fee waiver has been an- on their muster rolls.
nounced. This is because govern-
ments are well aware that private
schools are dependent on school
fees to reimburse teachers and
staff. We hope state governments
will continue to support private
schools post-Covid and parents
will understand the relevance
and urgency of paying school
fees. Parents need to know that
romoted by Mme. Grace Pinto the lockdown has affected many
and her husband Dr. Augus- people including our teachers,
Ptine in 1976, the Mumbai- support staff, drivers and other
based Ryan International Group of peripheral workers who have
Institutions (RIGI) has since blos- families to look after and bills to
somed into a network of 135 K-12 pay.
schools across 18 states and 40 cities
in India with an aggregate enrolment What are your Top 3 proposals for
of 275,000 students and 15,000 reviving and reforming K-12 educa-
teachers on its muster rolls. tion in India? Jagran Group of Institutions response to the
• Central and state governments Covid-19 challenge.
The Covid-19 crisis has majorly dis- should sharply increase outlays Since January, we have been tracking
rupted the education system. How has for public education the Covid-19 outbreak on a daily basis,
RIGI responded to this challenge? • There should be greater em- preparing for various possible out-
Despite initial teething problems, phasis on vocational and skills comes. In March, we started providing
our countrywide network of schools training to equip Indian youth online education, guidance and regular
was quick to adapt and embrace with industry preparedness updates to all our students, faculty and
online learning for reaching out to • Upgrade teacher training staff. Therefore, I am confident that
all our students and parents. Now, programmes in new technologies our four DPS schools, Shikshan Ken-
we have a specialised tech team in usage to enhance e-learning. dras and Jagran Lakecity University
every school to make this transi- will continue to provide high-quality
tion smooth and effective. Above all, What are your future plans for RIGI? teaching-learning to all students. Our
our teachers worked extra hard to To tide over the Covid-19 pan- students too, have responded enthu-
upgrade their ICT skills and effec- demic crisis, RIGI has focused on siastically and averaging 90 percent
tively engage students. In this entire innovative leverage of technology, attendance in our virtual classrooms.
process, many of our parents opted active collaboration and capac- JLU’s semester exams were also con-
to become co-learners to enhance ity building, and ensuring that ducted smoothly.
the e-learning experiences of their children remain at the centre of
children. immersive online learning experi- Major challenges confronting Indian
ences. RIGI plans to respond education in the Covid era.
What are the major challenges confront- to the pandemic challenge by The difficult challenges are not physi-
ing K-12 education in the new Covid-19 availing the opportunity to use cal but emotional. The faculty-student
era? technology to personalize the edu- relationship is constrained with face-
The challenge of evolving a blended cation of every child. We are open to-face interaction becoming rare.
learning model that will integrate to adapting to the new normal and Striking a balance between conven-
conventional classroom engagement making necessary changes in edu- tional and online education is posing
with e-learning support systems; cation delivery to remain relevant a formidable problem to all educators.
teacher training in emerging and equip our children for the The second challenge is to pre-
technologies usage; bridging wide uncertain future ahead. pare faculty and students to adapt

42 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020