Page 43 - EducationWorld June 2020

Shreevats Jaipuria
to ICT (information and communication
technologies)-enabled learning. Capacity Vice chairman, Seth M.R. Jaipuria Schools
building is an urgent imperative.
Moreover, institutional managements n alum of the Stern School of Business, New York University,
will have to devise new fees and financial Shreevats Jaipuria is vice chairman of the Seth M.R. Jaipuria
models for private schools and universities. Aschools (SMRJ) and Jaipuria Institute of Management. The
SMRJ Group comprises 34 K-12 schools (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar)
On fees waiver/deferment circulars to private and four business schools (Lucknow, Noida, Jaipur and Indore)
school managements. with a total enrolment of 30,000 students and 2,200 teachers.
My reading of the circulars issued by the The Covid-19 crisis has majorly disrupted the education system. How have
Madhya Pradesh government is that fees SMRJ schools responded to this challenge?
have not been waived, only payment dead- Our #1 priority is to ensure the
lines relaxed. Regular classes are being held
online, teachers are working full-time, and safety and well-being of our
students, teachers and parents.
therefore their salaries need to be paid on
time. None of our schools or university are Therefore, from early March,
we mandated work from home
forcing parents to pay their children’s fees
right away. Deadlines have been extended for all students, teachers and
staff and began online classes.
already and in genuine cases, special ar-
rangements are being made for parents. But Most importantly, we continue
to intensively train our teachers
at the same time, we are advising parents
who can pay, should pay. in technology usage and digital
pedagogies, while constantly
What are your proposals for reforming higher upgrading our online teaching-
education in India? learning system to ensure valu-
Demand for higher education has increased able learning outcomes for our
dramatically in recent years in India. Enrol- children.
ment in higher education institutions has What are the major challenges
risen from 10 million in 2000 to 23 million confronting Indian K-12 education
in 2013 and 36 million in 2017-18. in the Covid era?
The major goals of the higher education
system should be affirmative action for the Many households in India don’t have access to digital devices such
underprivileged and inclusive access to as computers and Smartphones and high speed Internet connectiv-
ity. To cover such homes, we have equipped our remote learning
higher education for all; financial aid/sup-
port to students from low-income house- system with pre-recorded videos shared through e-mail and What-
sApp. However, technology is not the big bottleneck. I believe the
holds; autonomy for private universities
with good track records, particularly for greater challenge is changing parental mind-sets. Schools need to
work in collaboration with parents and help them understand that
technical and vocational education institu-
tions. learning must continue despite the lockdown. Every day of learning
contributes to the overall development of children.
At the policy level, greater coordination
between the Union HRD ministry and its Several state governments have issued fees waiver/deferment circulars to
supervisory bodies such as UGC, AICTE, private school managements.
NAAC etc is necessary for effective policy In our schools, we have withdrawn the tuition fee increase for 2020-
implementation. The proposals made for 21 and waived transportation fees during the lockdown period. We
higher education reform in the draft Na- have also given parents the option of paying fees monthly. I am
tional Education Policy are very construc- thankful that most parents are cooperating with their schools and
tive – especially the committee’s proposals appreciating teachers for ensuring learning continuity during the
to encourage multidisciplinary education lockdown.
and develop research capabilities. They
should be heeded by the Central govern- What are your Top 3 proposals for reforming K-12 education in India?
ment. • Government policies must encourage promotion of new private
schools, especially in under-served areas. Increased competition be-
What are your future plans? tween schools will lead to lower fees and greater choice for students
We are focused on our mission of mak- and parents
ing quality education more accessible and • Schools must increase investment in pedagogy research and
affordable, so many more students can teacher training. For instance, we have established a 50-member
pursue their dream careers. It is a mis- team that works exclusively on pedagogy research and teacher
sion we believe, will help make the world a development
better place. In JSWS, we have dedicated • K-12 curriculums and education must be contextualised to Indian
ourselves to build human capital for our culture and society.
country and endow the world with beauti-
ful minds. Because when students succeed, What are your future plans for the Seth MR Jaipuria Schools?
countries prosper and societies benefit. Transform the learning experiences of 100,000 children and 5,000
educators across 75 sustainable schools pan-India by year 2025.

JUNE 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 43