The sixth edition of CII’s annual School Summit was held in New Delhi on Friday. Partners in the summit were National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), Unicef, Unesco, Centre for Civil Society and National Independent School Alliance. The summit was supported by Cyient and Amrit Cement along with many others.
The inaugural session of the summit saw the release of the first edition of CII School Report called YeSSE 2022. It presents Yearly Status of School Education in States and Union Territories of India. The report has been conceptualized and created by CII along with Deloitte.
Speaking in the Inaugural Session, Director of NCERT, Prof Dinesh Prasad Saklani emphasized on innovation in teaching and strengthening the roots of children in Indian culture and heritage.
Dr. B V R Mohan Reddy, Chairman, CII Education Council & Chairman, Cyient while delivering the Welcome Address said both curriculum and pedagogy needed to keep pace with the pace of change in technology. He also highlighted the potential of technology to bridge the gap between rural and urban communities.
Mr Ramachandra Rao Begur, Senior Education Specialist, UNICEF stressed on judicious use of data. He said there are many reports available which highlight the impact of learning loses but that work needs to be done to make use of these reports.
Mr Shailendra Sigdel, Statistical Advisor for South Asia, UNESCO while speaking at the Inaugural Session, mentioned that while COVID facilitated remote learning; it has also impacted mental health. He also shared concern by saying that due to lack of remote learning facility especially in rural areas, many children had learning loses.He also added that per capita expenditure in education in India,Nepal and Bangladesh is around Rs. 1000/- only which is very low in rank compared to countries around the world. There is a need for improvement in this area, he indicated. He also emphasized the need for learning and sharing platforms to make learning happen in the classroom.
Dr Biswajit Saha, Director – Training & School Education, CBSE highlighted the need for developing a culture for forming cohorts in the education sector today. The current education system is not able to cater to the requirement of current industrialization in the country. He suggested that Industry bodies should for a cohort for dissemination of information among each other. He also emphasized that teachers should have the freedom to decide on what they want to teach students besides importance of assessments.
Ms. Radhika Bharat Ram, Co-Chairperson, CII Education Council, delivered the Concluding Remarks. During her address, she highlighted that COVID has opened up the possibility of human and digital interaction; teacher training is critical and children needs to be in school & learning comes only from schools. She also highlighted the importance and need of investing in teachers’ training.
The Summit had experts and Senior Officials of organisations from both public and private sectors including NCERT, NCTE, CBSE, UNICEF, UNESCO, IGNOU, Azim Premji University, Centre for Civil Society, Bharti Foundation, Deloitte, Kshamtalaya Foundation, Cheshtha Care Foundation, Labhya Foundation, Delhi Government School, Commonwealth Education Media Centre for Asia, NISA, Shiv Nadar School, The Burlington Group of Companies, UNACCO Group of Schools, MyEdge, EdX, Spring, SR Capital Group of Schools, Young Lives India, ACER India, Central Square Foundation, Ambedkar University besides many others. The experts deliberated on implementation of National Education Policy 2020,Lessions Learnt from COVID 19, tackling mental health challenges, Connected Learning: Leveraging Pedagogy, Relationship and Technology for education; Integration of Academic and Vocational Education, Outcome based Education and Assessment Reforms, Role of Schools and Parents in Early Childhood Education with the Summit finally ending with Dr. (Major General) Soumyesh N Bhaduri, Medical Director, Serensa Health delivering the Valedictory Address.
22 July 2022