“I had always felt conscious about my pimples and dark skin. I never thought I looked good,” admitted Pooja,* a Class 9 student in a government high school in Mysuru.
Pooja is part of her school’s ‘Kishori Club’—a safe space established exclusively for adolescent girls. During a Kishori Club session on ‘Body Image and Adolescence’, Pooja…
Even as the Covid-19 pandemic continues into its second year, we are yet to put in place a system that addresses students’ needs and concerns during the pandemic. While shutting down schools and switching to online learning seemed inevitable when the pandemic began, it soon became clear that the decision neglects students who lack access to…
IT for Change has drafted a statement, endorsed by a group of educationists and social work organizations, about the urgent need to open all primary schools to avoid a crisis of learning. Read it below:
1. The Karnataka education department has opened schools selectively. Classes 9-12 have regular classes, and 6-8 have intermittent…
IT for Change put out a press release on January 26, 2021, about the urgent need to reopen all classes across all schools with local hygiene precautions in place. The statement, endorsed by a group of educationists and social work organizations, was covered by the New Indian Express.
The day after the release of the statement, the…
The recent proposal of the Karnataka government to open English medium sections in 1,000 primary schools has attracted criticism. Primary Education Minister N Mahesh has highlighted the step as a response to declining enrolment in government schools. Parents prefer private schools because they offer instruction in the English medium. Several…
Mathematics teaching in government high schools is challenging. The general difficulty in mathematics, of moving from concrete to abstract, is aggravated by lack of home support, poverty, high stakes SSLC examinations, and students not being ready for high school concepts. Teachers often transact the syllabus, assuming students to have an…
In this article for the Deccan Herald, Gurumurthy Kasinathan expresses concern over the increasing trend of government schools being "adopted" by CSR initiatives. Under the guise of introducing ‘efficient’ practices and improving infrastructure, he argues, the fundamental nature of the public school system is shifting.