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Special Report

Praveen Raju Fallout of government interference in Sumeet Mehta
fees and online education delivery of
Founder, Suchitra Academy, Hyderabad private schools. About 1,000 budget Co-founder, LEAD School
private schools have shut down in umeet Mehta is co-founder and
Telangana and another 2,000 are CEO of Leadership Boulevard
on the verge of closure. With 90 SPvt. Ltd (estb.2012), a com-
percent of school expenditure fixed, pany which offers its LEAD School
fee deferment/waiver notifications academic solutions to four owned
have resulted in massive losses to and 800 partner schools across the
school managements. Moreover, the country. An alum of the Punjab En-
government has offered no rebate in gineering College and IIM-Ahmed-
GST, property tax, electricity or road abad, Mehta was a top-rung execu-
tax to schools. tive at Proctor & Gamble, Singapore,
Curiously, some sections of the and former CEO of Zee Learn.
media have contended that school
managements can afford to, and What is your overview of the NEP 2020
should give, concessions to par- released recently?
ents. This has resulted in parents Overall, the policy is forward looking
holding back fee payments despite and has introduced path-breaking
having capacity to pay, creating a reforms. Two stand out: recognis-
debilitating atmosphere of mistrust. ing the importance of early child-
Now with unreasonable screen time hood education with the 5+3+3+4
restrictions, government is ensuring schooling formula, and the flexible
that we won’t complete syllabuses on entry and exit proposal and breaking
n engineering graduate of time. down barriers between arts, com-
Osmania University, former merce and science streams. This will
Anationally ranked snooker Suchitra Academy major initiatives. herald a new era of cross-disciplinary
player and former executive di- We run the Suchitra Badminton learning.
rector of the Indus International Academy, a training centre for
School, Hyderabad, Praveen Raju badminton professionals — Olympic How satisfied are you with the switch of
is founder-director of the CBSE silver medallist P.V. Sindhu trains K-12 schools to online/blended learning
(Delhi) and Cambridge International at our academy — and are also a during the current Covid-19 crisis?
(UK)-affiliated Suchitra Academy, recognised Khelo India centre, It is heartening to see how schools,
Hyderabad (estb.2011), which has training many athletes ranked teachers, parents and children have
1,500 students and 120 teachers on in India’s Top 10. During the responded swiftly and positively to
its muster rolls. recent Covid crisis, we designed the pandemic and embraced online
a unique fitness curriculum for learning. Learning in the physical
NEP 2020 overview. It’s a forward school children delivered online by world with a peer group is ideal, but
looking policy. Reforms such as experienced trainers. These workout in the given lockdown situation, we
integration of vocational skills sessions energise the mind, body have been able to develop a model of
and co-curricular education, and spirit and include yoga and online learning that comes close.
overhauling of the B.Ed study meditation.
programme, introduction of play- The past few months have witnessed
based early childhood curriculums, Top 3 proposals for re-inventing India’s
project-based learning, are sure K-12 education system.
to make Indian education globally • Implement the curricular, peda-
comparable. However, effective gogical and teacher reforms pro-
implementation of NEP 2020 is posed in NEP 2020 at the earliest.
required to realise transformative • Allow for-profit institutions in
change in the education sector. education to attract long-term capi-
tal from domestic and international
Transition to online/blended learning capital markets and boost foreign
during the current Covid-19 crisis. I am direct investment. USA, China,
very pleased with the way our teach- Japan, Germany and UK and almost
ers have embraced the transition to all of India’s neighbouring countries
online/blended learning and ensured in Asia, the Middle East and Africa
learning continuity of children. The allow for-profit investment in educa-
blended learning model is here to tion.
stay. In the post-Covid era, remedial • The Central government should
classes, parent-teacher meetings, etc issue an advisory to all state govern-
can all be done remotely. Teachers ments to enact enabling legislation
are no longer averse to technology such as the Uttar Pradesh Self-
and this is sure to benefit all schools Financed Independent Schools (Fee
in the years to come. Regulation) Act, 2018.

82 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2020