International Day of Education: The Road Map

The United Nations marks the 24th of January as the International Day of Education – the day is celebrated and is a reminder to further the role of education for peace and development. One of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is ‘Quality Education’, which aims at providing and improving access to quality education for all.

India’s population has 22% in the youth category, making it one of the youngest populous countries. As a young country, education needs to be at the forefront, to truly achieve and ensure sustainable development. Data shows students enrolling on schools in India has increased over the years - however, there has been a slight dip due to the COVID-19 pandemic which shows a shift towards online learning methods and the subsequent gap that exists in a large part of the population lacking the resources to attend online classes.

To further educate the people on the need for education, and the ways to do so SYNE spoke to Ms Ritu Lamba, founder of Things Education and a postgraduate degree holder in Education from Harvard University.

Social scientists define education as both the act of teaching knowledge to others and the act of receiving knowledge from someone else. And can be termed as formal, informal etc. In your view what is education?

“Education is a whole-child issue and is not restricted only to academics. Whole-child development includes domains of socio-emotional-ethical development, cognitive-sensory development, and motor development. Whereas academic development includes, the development of language, numeracy, and a scientific mind. Education ensures that a child develops holistically. For instance, learning to read is important and falls within the academic domain of language development. At the same time, learning to fail and try again is equally important, and this falls within the whole-child domain of socio-emotional-ethical development. Education must equip children with all these skills.”

As an organisation what are the steps taken by yours to ensure a quality education?

Ms Lamba explains the practicality and application of education in the daily functioning of an individual as follows:

“In today’s hyper-connected world, with information and knowledge-building courses available at the tip of our fingers, qualifications are the starting point. Additionally, skills of communication, collaboration, organisation, and independent learning are what students need in the here and now, as well as in the future. Education’s purpose is to help students understand how to make sense of the information available to them, to communicate effectively, to work with others, to organise their work and manage their time, and to be intrinsically motivated to learn continuously.”

Keeping the above points in mind, Things Education, an organisation co-founded by Ms Lamba believes that children learn best in an environment that gives them the space to explore, to try and fail and try again, and to discover how the world works. When asked about how Things Education ensures quality education to children, Ms Lamba details it as follows:

“Things Education empowers educators using the RISE framework:

• Recommend: We recommend policy changes to governments to improve teacher expertise and student learning.

• Ignite: We conduct specialised student programmes to ignite a love for teaching and learning.

• Sharpen: We conduct teacher development programmes to sharpen tools and techniques for effective pedagogy.

• Equip: We equip students and teachers with readymade solutions to make classrooms more hands-on and fun.”

Further, Ms Ritu Lamba gave us insights into her organisation, Things Education and how they ensure working towards the United Nations 2023 theme for the International Day of Education, “to invest in people, prioritise education”:

“Things Education aims to empower educators with research-backed pedagogical solutions. Educators include parents and other caregivers, teachers, heads of departments, school principals, curriculum developers and others who provide care and learning for children. We invest in people, specifically educators, by empowering them in a few different ways:

• Our Teacher Professional Development programmes are aimed at bridging the gap between the latest research, tools, guidelines, and classroom teaching.

• Our fortnightly newsletter, Things in Education, features research-backed summaries and stories in education to help educators in the classroom and at home.

• TEPS (Things Education’s Pedagogical Strategies) is a comprehensive online tool that provides teachers with specific strategies to foster better learning in their classrooms.

• Our curriculum solutions provide teachers with learning standards and detailed lesson plans to ensure hands-on and minds-on learning in the classroom.”

Where do you think India stands in providing quality education for peace and development?

The RISE approach and the other initiatives equipped by Things Education is a perspective that is unique and different from the established norms practised in the Indian scenario. Ms Lamba shares her views on the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, a step that may revolutionise the Indian education system.

“The recent policy recommendations of the NEP 2020 have taken India in the right direction in providing quality education for peace and development. By focusing on inquiry-based learning, project-based learning and holistic assessment of students, India is now looking to open doors to a more joyful and fair education system that gives equal importance to whole-child developmental domains. Happy students who learn not just robust academics with strong pedagogy but also understand their own socio-emotional needs and their relationship with the world around them are crucial to ensure peace and development. Although there is a long way to go in implementing these policy recommendations, we hope we are part of a movement in the right direction."

How do you think a unified social impact platform like SYNE, could work at investing in people and prioritising education?

Finally, Ms Lamba provides her opinion on how Unified Social Impact platforms like SYNE could do to revolutionise education and ensure access to quality education for all.

“A platform like SYNE can amplify organisations, projects and individuals working on solving the most pressing educational issues faced by schools, teachers, and students. Its social impact and community-building tools can bring changemakers together to collaborate and ensure larger steps towards educational equity.”

As mentioned, Ms Ritu Lamba is the founder of Things Education and holds a postgraduate degree in Education from Harvard University. She has over 14 years of experience in facilitating education, especially in India, as a Teach For India Fellow, as an English and Social Science Curriculum Author with XSEED Education, and as a Pedagogical Expert focusing on research and development of intensive, skill-based courses for gifted students at educational Initiatives. Her expertise lies in pedagogy – the science of teaching and learning, with a special focus on how children learn to read and what practices lead to deep comprehension and the development of a reading habit.