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Destroy the seeds of caste
My first visit to government schools was some time in 1998-99, even before the Azim Premji Foundation became operational. The ...
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On a dangerous path
Back in 1998, I spotted boys and girls in their school uniforms, probably from Classes 8-9, frolicking with beer in ...
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Some genuine issues
The journey from Raipur to Dharamjaygarh block in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh on a hot and dry April day seemed ...
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Secular practices for schools
A few days ago, someone circulated a message titled ‘Calendar of Indian Festivals in 2019’ on WhatsApp. Out of sheer ...
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Fixing some fundamentals
When I was a child, a cousin posed a riddle to me. He asked: “How many rotis can you eat ...
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An unsecular education
For about 18 years of my working life I lived in an upscale Mumbai neighbourhood and my children grew up ...
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Schools must teach social values
Last week I was in the historic city of Vijayapura (earlier Bijapur) after almost 15 years. The Azim Premji Foundation ...
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School official with no power
I was excited to visit this Model Senior Secondary Government School in one of the blocks in Rajasthan because a ...
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Chasing the English dream
On my way to Hyderabad airport, around 35-40 kilometres from Gulbarga, I spent time interacting with government school teachers at ...
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The story of toilets and schools
After landing at Jodhpur airport, I proceeded directly to the ‘Event with Teachers from 15 schools in the Cluster’ with ...
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Liberate teachers from officials
Throughout our journey from Rudraprayag to Agastyamuni, the Mandakini river flowed to our left, quietly and gracefully. I felt a ...
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Involve teachers in decisions
The head teacher greeted us with a broad smile — as if she knew us for years — though I ...
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Exams for what?
In our beloved nation, a culture exists to comment, react, debate, criticise and suggest quickfixes without knowing the deeper nature ...
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Why pre-school matters
It was 8.30 on a cold evening and, while walking past a reputed school in Bengaluru, I came across a ...
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We are unjust to our children
Watching the Under-19 cricket team in the recently concluded Cricket World Cup was a joy for many reasons. The most ...
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The tyranny of the textbook
I love the stretch that runs along the Bhimtal lake on the way to Almora and envy the people who ...
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When the media goofs up
Right from day one of my working life I was required to deal with the media and surrounding communities on ...
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Teaching for social change
During my journey between Purola and Uttarkashi, on the ever winding roads of Uttarakhand, my colleague asked questions about our ...
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Education needs radical reform
At a recent interaction with a large group of colleagues in a regional meeting, one relatively junior member who visits ...
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Govt, NGOs can be an ideal match
He was a relatively young IAS officer in charge of education in a large state. Very energetic and action-oriented. We ...
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No place for fear in the classroom
The winter’s afternoon in a Rajasthan school was special for us since we were to spend time with the Bal ...
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It is possible for midday meal scheme to improve
My son fell sick on his first birthday and we were rather disappointed since he was in no mood to ...
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Pitfalls of assessment
Milind was one of our most reliable Factory Personnel Managers for several years. In a particular year, when we rated ...
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No shortage of enthusiasm
The journey from Bhimtal to Pithoragarh was punctuated by beautiful burans trees (Rhododendron arboretum), the state flower of Uttarakhand. My ...
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Education in schools is also about developing life skills
One of the first Bal Melas the Azim Premji Foundation organised was in March 2008 around the theme of “Metrics ...
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A govt teacher’s challenges
It takes around 90 minutes for us to reach the government school, about 65 km from Dehradun. The school is ...
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Teach teachers better
India has the largest schooling system in the world with 1.5 million schools, over eight million teachers and 250 million ...
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The limits of best practices
During 2001-02 the Azim Premji Foundation launched a programme, the Accelerated Learning Programme, to support the academic achievements of children ...
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Don’t bore children
During the past three months, I have seen some short educational films prepared around existent examples of certain schools, teachers, ...
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Education needs action
It was 2008 and the commissioner discussed with us the idea of designing workbooks for all government schools in the ...
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DIETs key to good schools
About a decade ago, we had retained a management consultant to visit and evaluate a large not-for-profit organisation on several ...
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The teacher’s learning curve
Sitting in a largish room of a Block Development Office in Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh at 3 pm in ...
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Schools with just one teacher
One of the states in our country has a district that has 44 per cent of schools with a single ...
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School blooms in desert sand
On several occasions, when I tell my former classmates and relatives that I am travelling in Barmer, many of them ...
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How the system defeats you
Incident 1: The lady at the other end of the phone was known to me. She had called apologetically on ...
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Empower teachers with tech
Around 2000, one of the biggest challenges facing the Indian school education system was the large number of “out of ...
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From school to college
It is high time we stopped compartmentalising education. Even at the government level, we need to view education as a ...
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Spare the rod, save the child
In 2003, my colleague, MN Baig, and I were visiting schools that were part of the Accelerated Learning Program of ...
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A class of equals
About two years ago, in a relatively remote town in Maharashtra, while addressing some 250 college students, I asked them, ...
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God is in execution
The National Policy for Education 1986 (modified marginally in 1992) was prepared after much debate and thinking that had originally ...
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Teaching needs perspective
Sometime in 2007 I was invited to facilitate a session with a group of about 35 high-quality faculty members in ...
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The single teacher's plight
He is one of the best government teachers in that block, situated in the beautiful foothills of the Himalaya. His ...
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