Avinash

57 posts

Girls Education in India

Changing Status of Girls Education in India

Education for girls and women has been an important focus area for governments and policy makers in many developing nations, in the last few decades. Starting in the mid-1980s, especially after the framing of the National Policy of Education, 1986, the Indian government too initiated a number of measures to […]

Paulo Freire_Pedagogy of Oppressedv1

Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed : Book Summary

He has been called “the Rousseau of the 20th century” (Bhattacharya 2008: 101), “the John Dewey of the present era” (Kanpol 1997: 13) and “the most important educator” (Carnoy 2004: 7) of the second half of the 20th century”.[1] His book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, termed a “classic” and “a […]

Gandhi's Educational Philosophy

Drawing Inspiration from Gandhi’s Nai Talim: Anand Niketan, Wardha Part II

Anand Niketan, Wardha is a remarkable school. Run in the same premises where Gandhi started an experiment in education in 1937, it draws inspiration from his educational philosophy; and is playing a leading role today in redefining Nai Taleem (also called Basic Education or Buniyadi Shiksha) within the purview of modern curricular and Boards’ requirements. What follows is an interview with Sushma Sharma, who was instrumental in restarting the school in 2005 and continues to lead its growth and development today.

Textbooks and Knowledge3

Textbooks, Information and Knowledge

Textbooks have historically been seen as storehouse of information and knowledge. Their ‘over-use’ however, has also drawn heavy criticism in the recent past from many educators who see textbooks as ‘being closed, stifling creativity, leading to teachers’ lack of autonomy and promoting an emaciated view of knowledge’. In this provocative […]

Gandhi's Educational Philosophy

Drawing Inspiration from Gandhi’s Nai Talim: Anand Niketan, Wardha Part I

Anand Niketan, Wardha is a remarkable school. Run in the same premises where Gandhi started an experiment in education in 1937, it draws inspiration from his educational philosophy; and is playing a leading role today in redefining  Nai Taleem (also called Basic Education or Buniyadi Shiksha) within the purview of modern […]

Twilight of the Idols

Education and The Strength of Will

“To learn to see – to accustom the eye to calmness, to patience, and to allow things to come up to it;  to defer judgment, and to acquire the habit of approaching and grasping an individual case from all sides –  this is the first preparatory schooling of intellectuality.” This […]

Outlook: Repeated Username and Password Promt

How To Get Rid of Repeated Username/Password Prompts in Outlook

I use Outlook at work and at times it repeatedly asks for Username/Password and fails to connect to the server and receive or send emails (even though I have checked the small ‘Remember Me’ box). I noticed that this usually happens after I have changed the password (mandatory in our […]

How to Download Free EBooks from Google Books

Google Books not just allows one to search the full text of all books that Google has digitized till now (numbering over 30 millions; and growing); it also makes it simple to search for and download thousands of copyright free books. Here is what you need to do, to download these […]

The Debate Over School Choice

Over the last few years, there has been a spate of media articles/conferences etc. in India, advocating for what is termed “school choice”. Two such examples are here and here. What follows is my response to one of these articles. Two of the central claims seem to be the following: […]

Lake in Ladakh

Creating an enabling learning environment at 12,000 Feet: SECMOL Alternate Institute

“While [the children] may not be physically punished…a strong message is communicated to them that if they want to be accepted by the teacher and the society, they have to renounce any allegiance to their home language and culture. [W]hen the message, implicit or explicit…is “Leave your language and culture […]

Singer’s Dilemma : Would You Rescue the Child?

Imagine a pleasant evening. You are dressed in your favourite clothes, and are on your way to attend your friend’s wedding reception. On the way to the reception you have to cross a bridge. As you are about to get on to the bridge you see, what appears to be […]

International Seminar of Philosophy of Education

APU Announces Sixth Conference on Philosophy of Education

July 2016 Update: Azim Premji University is inviting papers for the 6th Philosophy of Education Conference to be held from 9th to 11th January 2016 at Bengaluru. This year, the theme of the conference is Educational Theory and Practice and the last date for paper submissions is 31st October, 2017.  Click here […]