Aperceptive but forgotten monitor of post-independence India’s national development effort, observed that whatever’s true about India, the opposite is also true. In politics, the economy, and society, numerous stories of despair, deprivation and rank injustice abound, but there are as many stories that inspire. This is also true of Indian education. While the big picture is grim — obsolete syllabuses, ill-trained and frequently absent teachers, rote learning, corporal punishment and poor learning outcomes, if one looks for them, there are numerous inspiring narratives of educators working creatively and committedly to develop innovative pedagogies and curriculums to invest the education experience of children and youth with meaning and substance.
Normatively but not exclusively, big ideas and initiatives to upgrade, improve and modernise early childhood, primary-secondary and higher education originate in private-sector enterprises where there’s greater freedom to experiment, rather than in government educracies where precedent is sacrosanct and experimentation tends to be discouraged. However, wherever they originate, good ideas including improved pedagogies and learning systems and processes, invariably acquire velocity and currency. This perhaps explains why India’s once ridiculed (guruji) culturally rooted ‘alternative’ primary-secondary schools have started to routinely top the annual EducationWorld India School Rankings (see EW September).
Inspired by reports of determined educators and entrepreneurs who have entered the hurdles-strewn education sector in a spirit of enlightened self-interest, the editors of this publication sought out some of them to investigate their initiatives in upgrading and enriching Indian education. The outcome is an enlightening cover story of several brave edupreneurs who have risked their savings, reputations and experience to promote enterprises with the potential to revolutionise every segment of the Indian education system – early childhood, primary-secondary, co and extra-curricular, vocational and higher education. Inevitably, the individuals and firms included in our celebratory Diwali issue are illustrative, rather than exhaustive. If there are other stories, we would be delighted to hear of them.
Our second lead story this month is also celebratory. It’s a pictorial essay celebrating the institutional development efforts of principals, promoters and trustees of 931 schools countrywide in ten separate categories, which topped the EducationWorld India School Rankings 2014. A large number of them graced our Awards Nite at the LaLit Hotel, Delhi last month. The pictorial essay is a record of this gala star-studded event. Together, the EW India School Rankings and the Awards Nite is the most elaborate celebration of primary-secondary education excellence worldwide.
