Inspiring innovators

Your cover story ‘22 Extraordinary Education Innovators’ (EW April) was extraordinary. The inspiring accounts of these innovators who have persevered to ideate and implement solutions which are changing the way education is being delivered in schools, are the only hope of Indian education. I was particularly inspired by Geeta Ramanujam’s creative idea of using story-telling as a learning tool in classrooms. Even teachers in rural schools where infrastructure facilities are minimal can use the time-tested art of story-telling to enliven classes and improve learning outcomes.  Congratulations to the 22 education innovators. Reading about them made me more optimistic about the future of education in India. May their tribe increase! Megha Rathi Bangalore Oasis invitation Thank you for the cover story featuring 22 exceptional education innovators (EW April). I appreciate the efforts of your entire team in putting all this information together. I will be pleased to partner with and help people who would like to adopt the Oasis Foundation model — social innovation labs, museum schools, etc — and replicate it. Pradeep Ghosh President, Oasis Foundation Bhopal Child-unfriendly budget Your special report feature ‘World’s largest child population cheated. Again’ (EW April) is hard-hitting and exposes the Union Budget 2015-16 as the country’s most children-unfriendly ever. It’s shocking that the BJP which promised to double education spending to 6 percent of GDP has done just the opposite and slashed education and child welfare spending. The most cruel is the 50 percent cut in the Centre’s allocation to the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme from Rs.18,000 crore last year to Rs.8,355 crore in Budget 2015-16. Like you, I don’t buy the finance minister’s reasoning that state governments will make up the deficit as they will now receive a greater share of the Centre’s tax revenue as per recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. State governments are steeped in corruption and callously indifferent to the nutrition and education needs of underprivileged children. Please send a copy of your magazine to prime minister Narendra Modi and finance minister Arun Jaitley so they can comprehend the magnitude of their betrayal. They have indeed cheated India’s children of their right to nutrition and quality education. Aruna Chatterjee Mumbai   System failure As an educator, I am deeply concerned by the recent incident of mass-scale cheating in school exams in Bihar, the symptom of a deeper malaise that afflicts Indian education (Education News, p.16, EW April). I believe it’s the system, and not students, which has failed society. Bihar is certainly not the only state where educational malpractices have descended to such an abominable level. Unless strong corrective measures are taken, the cheating pandemic will become common across the country. Mass cheating is deeply linked with inefficient teaching, poor institutional management, college admission rackets and corruption in distribution of state government scholarships. It’s a sign of social decadence we can’t afford to ignore. All stakeholders need to come together to put Indian education back on track. Samik Ghosh Principal, The Scindia School Gwalior Review CBSE papers I…