Dr. Ashok Pandey
Director, Ahlcon Group of Schools

A physics and education postgraduate of Allahabad and Annamalai universities, Dr. Ashok Pandey is the director of the CBSE-affiliated Ahlcon Public School (estb.1998) and Ahlcon International School (2001) in the national capital with an aggregate enrolment of 5,500 students and 320 teachers. Former chairperson of the National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC) and a #TeachSDGs ambassador, Dr. Pandey is a nationally respected K-12 education leader with over 37 years experience.

Ahlcon Group of Schools’ response to the Covid-19 challenge. Our teachers and students have enthusiastically embraced e-learning. Groundwork for switch to the online medium began in early March with preparation of a protocol for online teaching-learning, intensive teacher training and professional development, and strategies to engage children and promote socio-emotional learning.

Significant challenges confronting Indian K-12 education in the Covid era. The closure of government schools has hit millions of children from underprivileged households very hard because they neither get their mid-day meal nor learning. Even students able to access online education are struggling with Internet bandwidth problems. I foresee a major challenge in developing teachers’ digital skills, especially in rural India.

On state government fees deferment/no fee hike circulars to private school managements. The national lockdown has inflicted financial losses to millions of households. Therefore, government circulars giving parents the option to pay tuition fees monthly and defer payment until the end of lockdown are reasonable. Nevertheless, these directives have caused worry. Thankfully the courts have quashed demands for complete school fees waiver. Parents must understand that refusal to pay contracted fees amounts to a breach of trust between them and school managements. It also endangers teachers’ salaries and depresses their morale.

Top 3 proposals for reforming K-12 education. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the inherent deep inequalities — social, economic, digital and educational — of Indian society. Hopefully we will enter a radically different education age where capability to learn, unlearn and relearn, and socio-emotional intelligence of students will determine success. My Top 3 priorities for education reform: government to invest in building digital infrastructure to enable all children to receive quality online education; a nationwide initiative to build teacher capacity; and revamp of K-12 curriculums to facilitate competencybased learning.

Future plans. We are working intensively on developing a hybrid learning system incorporating face-to-face and remote online teaching.