Chairman, Arya Gurukul Group, Mumbai
Bharat Malik is the Mumbai-based chairman of the Education Today Foundation. It manages the Arya Gurukul Group of primary-secondary schools and preschools. Malik is also a founding member of the National Independent Schools Alliance (NISA).
- The prolonged lockdown of education institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the critical importance of children’s mental and emotional well-being. I hope the NCFSE provides guidance on improving children’s mental well-being so that they develop into well-balanced young adults.
- Among India’s 1.5 million schools, 400,000 are budget private schools with 60 million children, many of them first-generation learners. I am looking to NCFSE and NCF to provide guidelines on how to enable first-generation learners who receive no help at home to realise their potential. I hope it will suggest specialised skill development courses for first-generation learners and elementary adult learning programmes for their parents.
- NEP 2020 mandates experiential, practical learning. I am looking forward to NCFSE suggesting how to integrate experiential, practical learning into India’s schools. I hope it will also suggest how to re-introduce outdoor learning activities as practised in our ancient gurukuls.