Thank you for the very inspiring cover story ˜Design for Change: Global learning by doing movement™ (EW February).
It™s commonplace in Indian society to ignore children™s voices and opinions. Adults predominantly opine that children should restrict themselves to prescribed studies and not bother about larger social issues.
I believe the DFC programme should be made compulsory for all schools ” government and private ” across India. We need to begin to hear children™s voices and encourage them to become leaders of change. In a country facing a severe leadership deficit in all sectors, any programme which trains children to learn by doing needs full encouragement and support.
Sarita Kumari
Delhi
Universalise ECCE!
Heartiest congratulations to you and the EducationWorld team for hosting a magnificent and productive Early Childhood Education Global Conference 2015, and the EducationWorld India Preschool Rankings 2014 Awards ceremony (Special Report, EW February).
The biggest problems confronting the Indian early childhood care and education (ECCE) sector are capacity utilisation and unavailability of skilled human resources. Most ECCE centres mushrooming in smaller towns, urban slums etc, are yet to offer quality curriculums delivered by skilled teachers trained to provide age-appropriate education to infants.
It™s time the Central government works closely with private educators to develop a pool of skilled, talented and committed professionals to prepare our youngest children for schooling. We must make it our #1 priority to provide ECCE to all 158 million children in the 0-5 age group.
Kusum Kanwar
Managing director, Kangaroo Kids, Kandivali, Mumbai
Speak up forcefully
Re your editorial ˜Muslim middle class must lead™ (EW February), the killing of over 200 innocent school children in Peshawar by Taliban terrorists is a gruesome, unpardonable act of barbarism.
Such terrorists are enemies of mankind and all countries of the world must unite to defeat and eliminate them. And as you have rightly suggested, the Muslim middle class must speak up forcefully against clergy members brainwashing Muslim youth.
Mahesh Kumar
Delhi
Hidden motive
I read with interest your education news on the department of public instruction (DPI) declaring 1,266 primary-secondary schools in Bangalore œillegal (EW January).
For your information, the Karnataka state government has issued a circular dated December 6, 2014 pertaining to minority education institutions. It says to qualify as a minority institution, a school should have at least 25 percent students from the promoters™ minority community. This is ridiculous logic. How can a Christian minority institution have such a large proportion of students from that community when Christians constitute a mere 3 percent of the country™s population? The motive of the circular is obviously to divest minorities of their fundamental constitutional right œto establish and administer institutions of their choice.
The same circular also proposes to bring hitherto exempted CISCE and CBSE schools under the purview of the Karnataka State Education Act. When these proposals are read together, the state government™s hidden motive to bring all schools under the stranglehold of the bureaucracy becomes clear as daylight.
It™s alright to praise private institutions and their massive contributions to society. But such lip service has to be followed up with concrete support.
Mathew C. Ninan
Principal, Little Rock Indian School, Brahmavar, Udupi
Technology downside
Congratulations on publishing an excellent education-focused magazine. I want to draw the attention of your readers ” students, parents and teachers ” to the adverse effects of internet technology. For today™s generation, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter etc have become an addiction. Though the internet and social media have opened a limitless world of knowledge and made communication easier and faster, it™s also made a large number of young people anti-social. A growing number of children spend hours playing computer games. Outdoor sports have become history.
Teachers and parents need to counsel students to use technology wisely, and not become its slaves. We should control technology and not vice versa.
Karan Hiral Mehta on e-mail
