School Choice National Conference

The School Choice National Conference was held at the India International Centre on 20 December, 2013. The motto was Fund students, not schools! and the topic for discussion at the conference was Changing the Paradigms of Education.
It was a day long event where eminent personalities from various walks of life, as well as students from The Riverside School, Bangalore participated as panelists. The house was later thrown open for an informative question-answer session.

The session explored the vision of education that leaders hold for the future and asked critical questions:

Who should provide education?

What kind of education should we impart?

How should we impart this education?

Some of the interesting points/issues discussed at the open house were:

- Minds- on (mental) vs Hands- on (practical) knowledge.
- Holistic response mechanism: Thinking can't be linear, it has to be like a network with information coming in from all directions.
- parkling Humanity: Moral Science should be taught in all schools to try and stop crime against women.
- Role of Principal: Extensive training on leadership required in order to set a benchmark.
- Teacher being the back bone and students forming the muscles and tissue.
- Teachers should be accessible and approachable.
- Project HEAL: To be a citizen first, to visit patients in hospitals, specially children and senior citizens to ease their mental agony.
- Quality and skills expected from students when they leave school for which teachers need to be empowered to fulfill the mission.
- Does teaching for understanding take place, or is it just another routine job.
- There is no harm in providing students with scripted/model answers if it helps in better grades.

Representatives from the Civil Society Organisation and the government, along with school leaders examined whether todays education system is equipped to meet the growing aspirations of young India; how we can provide education with equity, and the role of technology in the classrooms of the future.

We are reminded of Zeo Weill who said, "The world becomes what we teach".

Report by Ms. Mithu Ghosh