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Manan Choksi
Executive director, Udgam School, Ahmedabad
anan Choksi
is executive
Mdirector of the
CBSE-affiliated Udgam
School for Children,
ranked Ahmedabad’s #3
co-ed day school in the
EW India School Rank-
ings 2019-20. A com-
merce and law graduate
of Gujarat University
and qualified chartered
accountant, he also man-
ages the CBSE-affiliated
Zebar School and two
preschools — Bodakdev
and Satellite — all in
• Introduction of remote learning Ahmedabad. Aggregate enrolment: should have a balanced view rather
pedagogies and guidelines for stu- 7,500 students mentored by 600 than favouring parents all the time. If
dents, teachers and parents. Our teachers. private schools are evil, why are they
team of teachers was sufficiently What is your assessment of the NEP not banned?
trained to take on the challenge of 2020?
online education when the lock- What are the major initiatives Udgam
down was announced in March. It will be a very good policy School has recently taken to upgrade
prescription even if 50 percent of it
• Blended teaching-learning teaching-learning?
models have been implemented in is implemented. We need to raise We believe in continuous
greater awareness about NEP 2020
all our schools to make learning improvement and made a major
personalised, and differentiated and discuss it widely on public push towards integrating technology
platforms.
instruction has been seamlessly into our teaching-learning processes
integrated. Will the switch to online/blended learn- before the Covid-19 lockdown.
• Assessment processes have ing during the current Covid-19 crisis Other initiatives have been in the
been revamped to include self and benefit Indian K-12 education in future? areas of bolstering teacher training,
peer evaluation, metacognition Covid-19 has pushed the education and providing remedial education
and growth mindsets. Dedicated community into the tech era. It’s through personalised teacher
reflection time is allocated to help commendable that teachers across interventions.
children identify learning gaps the country have risen to the chal- What are your Top 3 proposals for re-
even as teachers facilitate learners lenge of ensuring learning continuity inventing India’s K-12 education system?
with SID (scientific information for children through online educa- • Government should encour-
database) marking and construc- tion delivery. We are witnessing
tive feedback. measurable academic progress and age promotion of private schools.
Greater competition will lead to
Top 3 proposals for re-inventing India’s it’s a great achievement that chil- overall improvement in K-12 educa-
K-12 education system. dren’s learning hasn’t stopped. The tion standards, and fees will become
First, the government must ensure beneficial outcome of the Covid-19 automatically regulated. Teachers
that every child has access to crisis is that hybrid classes are the will get good salaries, and students
digital education. Teacher educa- future. better education.
tion must make maximum use of The past few months have witnessed in- • Increase teacher accountability.
technology and ideally follow the cremental government interference with Teachers should be assessed on
‘joint practice development’ model. the tuition fees and online education the basis of student performance,
Second, the blended learning mod- delivery of private schools. How much and parents’ ratings under several
el must become normative in K-12 damage has this caused? parameters.
education with best practices freely Schools are usually run by public- • Government should frame rules
shared with budget private schools. spirited people who want to nur- for private schools bearing parents
Third, revamp assessment — in- ture future generations. No person aspirations in mind. Very often,
ternal and external — processes without public service in mind would parents demands are at variance with
to stimulate the ‘growth mindset’ enter the education sector as there government guidelines. For instance,
of children to nurture globally are better opportunities elsewhere. the government recommends moth-
conscious individuals committed When government interferes in edu- er-tongue as medium of instruction
to sustainable development. cation, it demoralises school leaders but parents want English-medium
and teachers. Moreover, government education.

AUGUST 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 75