Page 50 - EducationWorld June 2020

Cover Story

Manit Jain organised a series of webinars. al education. We are also exploring
Co-founder, Heritage Group of Schools What are the major challenges confront- the possibility of starting schools in
other cities across the country with
ing K-12 education in the new Covid-19
era? like-minded local partners.
The Covid-19 crisis has exposed the Geeta Gandhi Kingdon
inequities of our education system
— from lack of Internet access and President, City Montessori, Lucknow
computers to failure to attract tal-
ented graduates to enter the teaching n alumna of Oxford Univer-
sity and the London School
profession. These inequities have
been amplified in this time of crisis. Aof Economics, Prof. Geeta
Gandhi Kingdon is chair of education
However, it has also aroused hope of
shaking up the iniquitous status quo economics and international devel-
opment, University College London.
when things return to normal.
She is also president of the City
Several state governments have prohib- Montessori School, Lucknow (CMS,
ited private school managements from estb.1959), certified as the world’s
collecting fees during the lockdown largest city school by Guinness
and banned fee increases. What’s your World Records (57,000 students,
comment? 2,196 teachers in 17 campuses).
Non-payment of fees can force
n alumnus of the globally educational institutes into ICU, while
renowned Harvard Graduate simultaneously jeopardising the
ASchool of Education, Manit livelihoods of millions of teachers. If
Jain, co-founder of the Heritage school managements experience dif-
Group of four K-12 schools in Delhi ficulty in paying the already meagre
NCR, is a pioneer of experiential salaries of teachers, the future of the
learning. In the EW India School country will be dim. Education insti-
Rankings 2019-20, the group’s show- tutions take years to build and once
piece Heritage Xperiential Learning broken, they are difficult to revive.
School, Gurgaon is ranked India’s Such populist measures may provide
#1 co-ed day school. Jain also chairs temporary relief to parents, but they
FICCI’s Alliance for Re-Imagining will cause permanent damage to
School Education (ARISE), the education institutions.
private schools advocacy wing of the What are your Top 3 proposals for re-
Delhi-based Federation of Indian forming K-12 education in India?
Chambers of Commerce and Indus- Reduce regulations. Too many
try (FICCI). rules and regulations are discourag-
How have the Heritage Group and FICCI ing edupreneurs from promoting The Covid-19 crisis has majorly dis-
Arise responded to the Covid-19 chal- greenfield institutions. They create rupted the education system. How has
lenge? competition, and improve the quality City Montessori School responded to this
The best learning happens through of education. Moreover, competition challenge?
a combination of online and of- drives down school fees In CMS, we introduced e-learning
fline processes. Therefore, having Introduce voucher system. Time and online resources way back
already invested in a robust Learn- for government to start funding in 2012 when we bought Interac-
ing Management System that stored students instead of schools tive White Boards for our 57,000
all curriculum content digitally, we Formulate viable and attrac- students in the school’s 17 campuses
quickly devised a learning continuity tive PPP models. Edupreneurs and in Lucknow, gradually ramped up
plan for our students. Virtual classes NGOs should be encouraged to up- training our 2,100 teachers with
are conducted with teachers using grade and transform non-performing basic computing skills to use Open
a combination of asynchronous and government schools Education Resources, create their
synchronous classes through Teamie Overhaul examination system. own e-content, and use AI-based
and Google Hangout apps. To assess children’s learning out- adaptive learning tools. Therefore,
FICCI Arise has also taken various comes, exams should test students’ soon after the national lockdown was
initiatives. Several virtual meets have comprehension skills and socio-emo- declared on March 24, our teachers
been organised in collaboration with tional learning, rather than memory. were able to comfortably start using
Google India to support schools to What are your future plans for Heritage Google Classrooms, Google Meets,
provide distance learning solutions. schools? Hangouts and Zoom to engage
These meets have been attended by We intend to move towards greater directly with groups of students for
over 500 educators of 200 schools, adoption of technology and strength- interactive online classes.
across 46 cities, 26 states and three en our experiential, projects-based Several state governments have issued
countries. Moreover, we have also curriculum by adding socio-emotion- fees waiver/deferment circulars to pri-

50 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2020