A journey through schooling: perspectives and dilemmas

Sushmita Aripirala
Schools. How differently do we see them – As the time moves on? As the society changes? As our biases continue? As our financial situation alters? As new schools come in? As state priorities alter?

Digital technology and the teacher’s professional identity

Deepika Gupta
Creating smart lessons, developing digital plans, using smart boards, uploading assignments online, handling different Whatsapp groups — how far can we ask a teacher to go in the name of imbibing technology into education? With all the ‘smart’ things a teacher has to do today, can she still be creative in the classroom?

Board exams 2021 cancelled — Are we better off with or without them?

Praveen Kumar S
With the pademic continuing to gather steam and showing no signs of slowing down, the Central Board of Secondary Education has decided, for a second year in a row to cancel the class X exams. State Boards are following suit. It is perhaps time that we asked ourselves the purpose of these exams and how better we can assess our students’ learning.

The coaching centre conundrum

Ripu Daman Gupta

The demand for coaching centres is so high that every second lane we turn into has a centre proclaiming its success. But how necessary are these learning centres? With students unable to juggle both the school and the coaching centre, are there ways to reduce our dependence on these centres, while giving our students the help they need to get into institutes of higher education?

English medium schools: pragmatic or problematic?

Ramanujam Parthasarathy

It is not the first and certainly won’t be the last time that a state government announces its decision to enforce English as the medium of instruction in state-run schools. With the Andhra Pradesh government the latest to join the English medium bandwagon in order to attract parents and children, we must realize that any new measure undertaken to boost public education will have the necessary effect only when the government pulls up its socks to run its schools more efficiently.

The importance of being trustful

Prakash Iyer
Battling fake news is at the top of everybody’s minds right now, as it should be, looking at the chaos it spreads. But there is something more alarming that is brewing, a corollary to fake news—an epidemic of distrust. Are we, as a people, becoming mistrustful of others around us? If yes, what are the consequences of this?

Public schools and ‘secular’ prayers

Tushar Goel

Secularism is perhaps the most debated concept in the country today. While it has been dissected, analyzed and digested over and over in different contexts, there is one area that has received less attention than others—secularism and public schools. If public schools are secular, why then do their assemblies follow the prayers of a particular religion? Isn’t this a violation of our constitutional rights?

Beware of schools!

Ashtami Rajan
Be wary of schools for they do not inculcate the spirit of liberty, fraternity and equality;be wary of schools because they operate on a model that inhibits freedom, encourages competition at the cost of cooperation and gives unequal opportunities to students; be wary of schools because they restrict movement of children, their ability to communicate and learn from each other in the name of discipline. These are some of the arguments put forward by the author. She argues that unless schools become sites where dominant frameworks are challenged and stereotypes are broken, they will remain spaces one needs to be wary of.

What did you ask a teacher to be?

Vandana Singh

When candidates are chosen as teachers, what qualities exactly do schools look for in them? Do they choose prospective teachers based on their general knowledge? Or because they display skills that tell the school that this candidate can work with children? From her personal experience the author tells readers why the way schools select their teachers is very disturbing.