Gurumurthy Kasinathan

2023

Imagine you joined a course without knowing that the instruction was in Russian. You would understand nothing. In a poignant scene from the Hindi movie, Taare Zameen Par, the parents of Ishaan, who is dyslexic, are asked to read Chinese and learn. They struggle and fail. This is what happens to thousands of Indian…

2023

Abstract

Twitter, the social-networking platform which serves as a socio-political barometer, was recently purchased by Elon Musk, owner of Tesla. Musk has fired 50% of Twitter staff, toyed with its policies on registration and posts, making it an oligarch’s doll. Clearly the world needs a ‘global digital public town hall’  governed in…

2023

Towards the end of a workshop conducted for school teachers, a curious phenomenon is often observed; many women teachers become restless. They sit tight anxiously clutching the handbags on their laps, steal furtive glances at their watches (or phones) to check the time, and even pointedly look towards the exit.

Many of them have to cook…

2023

Teachers will ‘teach to the test’ and focus on ensuring that the student can write answers to questions related to the syllabus, rather than ‘teach the learner’.

The Karnataka Education Department recently announced common examinations for grade 5 and 8 students. The Schools Association appealed against this decision, contending that…

2023
IT for Change has played a crucial role in highlighting the education emergency in India caused by the unprecedented and prolonged school closures in India due to COVID-19. In July 2021, we catalyzed the creation of the National Coalition on the Education Emergency, bringing together researchers and educational professionals, social activists…
2022
Twelve years after the Right to Education Act was passed, public investment in schools remains abysmally low.

The Karnataka Commissioner of School Education on October 19 issued a circular, allowing school monitoring committees to collect Rs 100 or more every month from each parent as a donation to the school contingency fund.

This was…

2022

The Ministry of School Education and Literacy recently released the 2021-22 Unified District Information System for Education (U-DISE) report, which provides information about all schools, teachers and students in India. A whole host of information; student enrolment, teacher deployment and school infrastructure including drinking water,…

2022

Abstract : English language teachers articulate several reasons for their students not achieving competence in English communication. The socio-economic context of the learner, including the home environment, does not provide opportunities for English / second language acquisition (SLA). The compulsions of the syllabus, examinations being…

2022

Gurumurthy Kasinathan spoke to EPW engage about EdTech companies. While online education was once seen with doubt, Byju’s has reported consistent growth in users and the pandemic has given them a turbo boost. What are the implications of EdTech companies in changing how students learn and grow? What types of partnerships are EdTech companies…

2021, 2022

For-profit edtech needs to be banned, and the government must play an active regulatory role.

After a Congress member of Parliament from Tamil Nadu highlighted the unethical practices of the Indian edtech companies in Parliament, the Ministry of Education (MoE) issued an advisory. The advisory asked parents to “verify that content…