Awake dormant power
Your cover story ‘25 million gifted children: Urgent! Enable India’s real demographic dividend now’ (EW March) is insightful and thought-provoking. It provides a fresh perspective and solutions for India to unlock the dormant power of its large number of gifted children.
You are right in stressing the urgency of overhauling the current education system to identify, nurture, and invest in gifted children, and ensure their potential is not stifled because of confused thinking about equality and inclusion.
In the hypercompetitive new world, we have to optimally utilise the advantage of our large number of gifted children to emerge as ‘Viksit Bharat’.
Deepak Maity
Kolkata
Design net-zero education
The Teacher-2-Teacher essay pitching for including net-zero education in K-12 curriculums (EW March) was overdue. Young learners must be empowered with the knowledge and skills to confront the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation without further delay.
I particularly liked the author P. Gopala Krishnan’s suggestions for schools and educators to design holistic, climate-conscious curriculums that encourage collaboration, innovation, and environmental stewardship.
Chitra Hegde
Mangaluru
Must-read analysis
Your analysis in ‘Union Budget 2025-26: Half prescription for Viksit Bharat’ (EW March) is stinging criticism of the persistent neglect of developing ‘soft infrastructure’, i.e, education, without which India’s vision of becoming Viksit Bharat is likely to prove a mirage.
Your unprecedented schema to raise an additional Rs.8.65 lakh crore for investment in education and health is especially laudable. It’s a must-read for politicians, policymakers and educators invested in the nation’s economic growth.
Dinakar K.
Delhi
Pictures speak volumes
Your Pictorial Essay (EW March) reflects EducationWorld’s focused mission to encourage and felicitate pre-primary education.
The pictures speak volumes. As a retired teacher, I was delighted to witness the huge community of educators who attended your preschool awards function.
Keep up the good work!
Maria Selvi on email
Laudable initiatives
I agreE with your Special Report (EW March) that the BJP/NDA government deserves praise for reducing the fiscal deficit and focusing on investment in infrastructure development. However, I don’t subscribe to your assertion that the Union Budget 2025-26 has completely missed the mark in education.
For your information, the budget made some important announcements for the education and skilling sectors. For instance, the PM Internship Scheme offers youth practical skills through industry collaboration while The Skilling for AI Readiness (SOAR) Program aims to integrate AI literacy into vocational training from class VI. Moreover, the establishment of five National Centres of Excellence will equip our youth with skills for ‘Make for India, Make for the World’ manufacturing.
V. Prasad Rao
Mumbai
Praise of chess
I loved reading about four-year-old Bengal chess prodigy Anish Sarkar (EW February) in your ‘Young Achievers’ column. At his age, the only kings and queens I ever knew were fictional characters from story books. Times have truly changed!
I am a parenting consultant and would highly recommend introducing chess to children at youngest age. There is enough research to suggest that apart from developing cognitive skills, chess also develops social skills —4 such as learning fair play, self-respect and respect for others, understanding differing perspectives, and developing empathy.
Jaya Menon
Hyderabad
Bad taste remarks
I am a regular reader of EW. Re your March issue, I am appalled by your choice of phrases and adjectives. Referring to India as a “mediocre nation” whose “economy is in the doldrums” is in bad taste, especially at a time when the world is looking to India as an emerging global economic power.
In fact, India’s economy with an annual GDP growth rate of 6.2 percent, is in far better shape than any country in the West.
Sarika Bagchi
Kolkata
