Need constant upgrade in education, says Vinod Tawde

Principals from city schools discussed the need to upgrade curriculum, invest in teachers and create safe spaces for schoolchildren at The Times of India and Maharashtra Times Principals Conclave, Mumbai [...]

Principals from city schools discussed the need to upgrade curriculum, invest in teachers and create safe spaces for schoolchildren at The Times of India and Maharashtra Times Principals Conclave, Mumbai edition, on Wednesday. Apart from expert panels, the conclave also saw education minister Vinod Tawde interact with the principals about the changes one can look forward to in the education system.

Moderator Francis Joseph with speakers Revathy Srinivasan, Anil Mammen, Amina Charania, Vaibhav Srivastava and Shim Mathew

Tawde said there is a need for a constant upgrade in education. “There must be a developmental plan for education which must be revisited every 10 years to improve the quality of education. Similarly, syllabus needs to be upgraded to include the constant changes,”

In the first session, experts discussed policies and school leadership touching upon policy framework that impacts the Indian education system and the qualitative and quantitative growth of institutions. The session moderated by Sanjay Ranade, department head of communication and journalism at University of Mumbai, included speakers Meeta Rajivlochan, principal secretary and state project director, State Project Directorate–RUSA; Swati Salunkhe, education counsellor; Pratibha Jain, Eduabroad founder; Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner at KPMG India; and Dr Raghunath K Shevgaonkar, vice-chancellor of Bennett University.

The focus of the second session was the need to upgrade curriculum and invest in teacher training. The session was moderated by Francis Joseph, who is part of the Maharashtra International Education Board. “Schools must learn from their peers not just in the country, but abroad too. They must not only focus on subject learning of a teacher, but also their overall development,” said Revathy Srinivasan, principal of Thane’s Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School. Other panelists included Amina Charania of TISS, Vaibhav Srivastava of CISCO Systems, Shim Mathew, director of academic operations at Vibgyor Group of Schools, and Anil Mammen from Tata ClassEdge.

The final panel touched upon the safety of children in schools. Among the panelists were Kreeane Rabadi, CRY director; Pooja Taparia, CEO of NGO Arpan; Harish Shetty, clinical psychiatrist; and Elsa-Marie D’Silva, founder and CEO of Red Dot Foundation.

Source: Times Of India