Page 10 - EducationWorld Feb 2021 Low

Mailbox

also provide incentives to edtech It’s also heartening to learn that
companies to deliver digital learning the country’s IITs and engineering
programmes at subsidised prices to colleges are producing enterprising
poor children. The #1 priority of the graduates who are promoting inno-
Union education ministry should be vative edtech start-ups.
to address the urban-rural education My sincere compliments for this
divide that the Covid-19 pandemic well-rounded and informative cover
has further widened. feature!
Biju Dasgupta Mehak Chopra
KOLKATA GURUGRAM

Nursery admission anxiety Revamp police education
I AM A Delhi-based mother planning THANKS FOR an insightful special
my child’s admission into nurs- report on the state of police educa-
ery class this year. Your education tion in India (EW January). The
JANUARY 2021 news ‘Nursery admissions anxiety’ public image of our police is of inef-
(EW January) has made me doubly ficient, corrupt and unsympathetic
anxious as there is no clarity in the personnel intimidating citizens. Most
national capital about admissions people don’t trust the police which is
Widening digital divide into nursery sections of composite why many crimes go unreported.
CONGRATULATIONS FOR your schools. As the author Dilip Bobb writes,
well-researched cover story ‘Future If nursery admissions are can- the root of this problem is in the
of learning in post-pandemic era’ celled this year because of the poor quality education and training
(EW January). Your views resonated pandemic, my four-year-old will be provided to policemen, especially
with me. The closure of education unprepared to cope with the pressure constables. The government needs
institutions for over nine months of direct admission into kindergarten to urgently revamp curriculums to
has certainly forced change-averse next year. Losing a year will affect include latest crime detection tech-
schools to adopt new tech-driven his cognitive and socio-emotional de- niques, digital and cyber literacy and
teaching-learning systems. But it velopment and it will be difficult to most importantly soft skills training.
has also highlighted and exacerbated compensate the learning loss. Police personnel need to be taught
prevailing inequalities in Indian I request the government to re- to be polite, humane and empathetic
education. think its nursery admissions strategy to victims of crime, especially women
While a few hundred top-ranked and decide speedily, so that children and children. This should be accom-
private schools have done a stellar begin receiving professional early panied with improved work condi-
job of providing online learning con- childhood care and education. tions of policemen many of whom
tinuity to their students, the majority Supriya Mukherjee on EMAIL have long hours of duty.
of students in government schools I hope your honest and timely
in urban and especially rural India, critique will be a wake-up call for
have not had access to any learn- Words of praise government to restructure and im-
ing for lack of digital connectivity. I ENJOYED reading your cover story prove policing education and train-
This will result in huge learning and ‘Future of learning in post-pandemic ing standards in India.
achievement gaps between the haves era’ (EW January). It’s indeed Vikram Godbole
and have-nots. creditable, the alacrity with which PUNE
In the post-pandemic era when the country’s teachers/educators
blended learning is set to become have embraced digital learning tools
the new normal, it’s imperative that to ensure learning continuity of Corrigendum
the Central and state governments children. Also the past year has seen IN THE Library & Reading Culture
make adequate budgetary provision a shift in parents’ mindsets towards parameter of the EW Grand Jury
for delivering e-learning to under- online learning as they witness its India School Rankings 2020-21
privileged children. I hope and pray efficacy and benefits. More so, it’s (EW January), Delhi Public School,
that the Union Budget 2020-21 will commendable how children have Greater Faridabad has been inadver-
include a post-pandemic recovery bravely risen to the challenge of tently ranked #2 in Uttar Pradesh
package for Indian education. online learning and adapted to this state instead of #1 in Haryana. This
Moreover, the government can new reality. error is regretted — Editor

10 EDUCATIONWORLD FEBRUARY 2021