Page 42 - EducationWorld January 2021

Cover Story

ada and Abu Dhabi to education insti- paucity of voluntary non-government
tutions, teachers, parents and children organisations (NGOs) ready to step
to tide them over the Coronavirus dis- into the breach.
ruption and lockdown crisis. All to no Unfortunately the historic liber-
avail. alisation and deregulation initiative
N EVERTHELESS, opti- dustry and doubled the annual rate of
of 1991, which rejuvenated Indian in-
mists among the educa-
economic growth has completely by-
tors community believe
ing to the State of the Sector Report:
that in the long run the passed the education sector. Accord-
hidden benefits of the pandemic will Private Schools in India published
balance, if not outweigh costs. last July by the highly respected, Del-
“The prolonged nationwide lock- hi-based Central Square Foundation
down of all education institutions has and the Omidyar Network, 125 docu-
precipitated an unprecedented trans- ments involving 155 ‘steps’ have to
formation in means of communica- move through the Delhi state govern-
tion and transfer of knowledge and ment’s Directorate of Education, pass
its democratisation. In a few months Matoo: carpe diem exortation through the hands of 40 education
we have moved from traditional media ministry babus who scrutinise them
such as printed books accessible by a foregone conclusion that with tax before a greenfield primary-secondary
small minorities to distance learning revenue certain to fall substantially school can be established.
through multiple digital media acces- because of the closure of India Inc for If this is the situation in the nation-
sible by hundreds of millions of people several months and the fiscal deficit al capital where access to the courts
at the click of a mouse. Consequently for 2020-21 budgeted at 3.5 percent of and media is relatively easy, one can
the educator-learner relationship has GDP (Rs.227 lakh crore), likely to be imagine how difficult it is to promote
changed from the teacher transform- 3x of the budgeted amount, the Centre private schools in other parts of the
ing from a ‘sage on stage’ to ‘guide by won’t have the resources to increase country. This open uninterrupted
side’, flattening the hierarchy of sev- the outlay for education for several and continuous asphyxiation of K-12
eral millennia. The pandemic has ac- years. Indeed it’s quite likely that the education has to be stopped and the
celerated the disruption and creative education budget (Rs.99,312 crore proven benefits of liberalisation and
destruction of Indian education, open- equivalent to a mere 0.45 percent of deregulation must flow into Indian
ing up a huge opportunity to reach GDP in 2020-21) for 2021-22 will be education. The plain truth is that
and skill India’s latent, high-potential slashed. for India to harvest its demographic
human capital. I urge government, In the circumstances, the best that dividend thousands of new greenfield
educators and teachers to seize this the Central and state governments schools have to bloom.
opportunity to transform India into a which cannot make sufficient provi- The unexpected upside of the Coro-
knowledge-driven superpower of the sion and lead the ICT revolution that navirus pandemic is that educators,
21st century,” says Kahlan Matoo, the Indian education needs, can do parents, students and children coun-
education visionary and promoter- is to get out of the way. There is no trywide have become aware of the
director of several architecture and shortage of socially committed entre- empowerment potential of new age
design firms including Planet 3 Stu- preneurs motivated by a spirit of en- of digital teaching-learning. The pan-
dios, Mumbai, Kalhan & Co Ltd with lightened self-interest ready, willing demic experience of avant-garde pre-
offices in Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and able to invest in developing the primary to Ph D education institutions
and Abu Dhabi, which intensively uti- country’s abundant and high poten- across the country that have smoothly
lise ICT, AI (artificial intelligence) and tial human resources. Nor is there a switched to new age digital and tra-
other digital technologies to design, ditional blended learning needs to be
construct and commission intelligent Optimists in the educators replicated in public education to re-
school and college buildings, port ter- cover the lost learning of the world’s
minals and mountain cable car sta- community believe that largest child and youth population.
tions in India and abroad. in the long run the hidden If this unforeseen upside oppor-
Matoo’s carpe diem exhortation to tunity presented by the devastating
harvest the opportunity unwittingly benefits of the pandemic pandemic is missed, 21st century In-
provided by the malignant Corona- will balance if not outweigh dia will remain mired in the vicious
virus, is particularly applicable to the costs and poverty for decades to come.
cycle of ignorance, low productivity
Central and state governments. It’s

42 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2021