Educating the special child

Anuradha C
Imparting formal education to little ones is among the foremost challenges of adult human society. Simply because we are trying to play God.

Individual vs collective learning

Anuradha C
With every activity in life shifting to a contactless mode due to the pandemic, is it time to reset the education button? The first visible signs are the mushrooming of online classes and webinars but can education really be delivered from a distance?

The scope of initiative

Navya Iyer Kannan
What is learning? Is it merely what happens in a school, in the classroom? Does it stop when one graduates? Is it something that only teachers can inspire in us? These are just few of the many unasked questions about learning and consequently, education itself.

The native flavour in learning

Anuradha C
How do we integrate the knowledge of essential, native skills into the learning process of a student? While there is no disputing the fact that universally accepted subjects such as languages, math, science and social sciences must be taught, where and how do we teach children the skills required to cope with their native habitat? Formal learning must address this lacuna.

A treasure trove of teachers, untapped!

Anuradha C
Teacher shortage is a perennial concern in the Indian education system. There have been and continues to be a lot of debate and discussion around this. The solutions, however, have been few and far between. We are aware of the problem, we have discussed it enough. It is now time to think of innovative solutions and implement them.

Where there is no will…

Aneesh Parnerkar

The basic problem with Indian education is that there is no support for the students who deviate from the popular choices either from the parents or from the schools. But with the world no longer enamoured with the medical and engineering professions, it is time that schools stood by their students and encouraged them in whatever they choose to study.

Let nature turn teacher

Anuradha C

Most of man’s discoveries or inventions have been inspired by nature and yet we keep our children and their education far away from it, why? Nature lends itself not just to the teaching of science, but language, life skills and sex education as well.

Do we need a national language?

Anuradha C
Hindi or English? The question on every Indian mind today. While what language we use to communicate in informal contexts is not much of a concern, it is the medium of instruction in schools that is the cause of this nationwide debate. But does the language used to teach really matter so much? As long as we know what really to teach and how to teach it, learning will happen no matter the language.

A student’s best ally – memory or intelligence?

Anuradha C
How does learning take place, and what type of learning stands in good stead throughout life? All types of learning have their place such as rote learning, conceptual learning and experiential learning. So, the ideal would be to memorize facts, understand the concept behind the facts and apply that understanding to solve problems.

Re-imagining the gurukul

Anuradha C
The gurukul tradition was the epicentre of learning in ancient India. With modernization, however, this system has seen a decline. Is it time now to revive some of the best practices of this system? Some aspects worth adopting are the holistic way of learning and human development, honing the individual abilities of children and learning to live in harmony with nature.