Page 63 - EducationWorld June 2020

Pradip Agarwal fears and anxieties relating to the
CEO, Heritage Group of Institutions pandemic at a time when businesses
and employment have been hard hit.
n alum of Calcutta University Several state governments have issued
with 27 years’ experience of fees waiver/deferment circulars to private
Amanaging top-ranked edu- schools. What’s your comment?
cational institutions, Pradip Kumar As a temporary fire-fighting in-
Agarwal is CEO of the Heritage Group tervention, it is understandable.
comprising six education institutions However, fees deferment for a longer
in Kolkata including the top-ranked period will create a crisis with private
K-12 Heritage School, Heritage In- education institutions unable to pay
stitute of Technology, Heritage teachers and staff salaries. Moreover,
Academy, Heritage Business School, fees deferment should not be treated
Heritage Law College and Heritage as waiver.
College. Together, they have 9,800
students instructed by 800 teachers What are your Top 3 proposals for reform-
on their muster rolls. ing K-12 and higher education in India?
• Implement the recommendations
How have Heritage institutions responded tributed cooked meals to 300 people of the draft National Education
to the Covid-19 disruption? Policy 2019 and increase expenditure
We have formed a Covid task force living in neighbouring villages and on public education
made a contribution of Rs.50 lakh
to aid all our institutions to respond each to the PM Cares Fund & CM • Revamp K-12 and higher education
effectively to this unprecedented Relief Fund. curriculums to boost interdisciplin-
crisis. All Heritage institutions ary learning with facility of credit
including school and colleges have What are the major challenges confront- transfers
moved their teaching-learning online ing K-12 education in the Covid era? • Establish a K-12 education council/
using Google Classroom and conduct The biggest challenge is to alleviate board with uniform syllabus and as-
regular online training sessions for fear within the parents commu- sessment system countrywide.
teachers to equip them with digital nity about sending children back to
skills. Moreover, we organise webi- school when the lockdown is eased. What are your future plans for the Heri-
nars and psychological and career Students and parents are struggling tage Group?
counseling sessions for students. to cope with the switch to online We want to develop and transform
Most importantly, we have distrib- learning because of poor Internet our higher ed institutions into a
uted textbooks, including stationery network and lack of digital devices. It state-of-the-art university provid-
to all our students, using our bus will be a major challenge to persuade ing excellent teaching and research
transport network. We have also dis- students and parents to overcome facilities.

JUNE 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 63