Innovation in education

28th September 2017

I read this article yesterday which spoke of revolutionising education and the very first two statements caught my attention –

“An estimated 250 million children around the world cannot read, write, or demonstrate basic arithmetic skills. UNESCO estimates that the world will need 1.6 million more teachers globally, a number set to double by 2030.”

Am sure India’s contribution to these 250 million children who cannot read, write or demonstrate basic arithmetic skills is sizeable … we have issues with education at all levels in India – primary, middle, high school and then even the college education. We produce 1.5 million Engineering graduates and less than 1.5% of them are employable. Huge issue.

When we were touring TamilNadu in 2015 as part of our ShikshaDaan Yatra, we met with Shri Krishnammachari, Chairman of the Tex Biosciences Group. He spoke of the Single Teacher Schools that were an innovation in primary education. Girls from small villages were educated and trained as primary school teachers and they taught 15 students in their village from classes 1 to 5. We were very happy to know about this. Please read more at this link – http://www.singleteacherschools.org/india/.

In the same way the article I read yesterday also spoke of innovation in education and about five organisations that had won a contest for the most innovative idea. One of the organisations is “Chimple” from Bengaluru. They are using the power of story telling to improve literacy and learning in children. Loved the idea and we hope to get in touch with them to see how we can carry their message to a wider audience during our ShikshaDaan Yatra.

Please share other innovations that you have come across in education because now is the time to REBOOT education in India!