Teachers, too, have been severely impacted due to COVID-19 as many faced job cuts or mental pressures to train themselves quickly to adopt to online teaching. Budget 2021 will require some delicate balancing act, with so many issues and consequential need gaps across sectors and education is no exception. The pandemic has severely impacted education in India country with over 200 million children losing out a year full of schooling. Teachers, too, have been severely impacted as many faced job cuts or mental pressures to train themselves quickly to adopt to online teaching.
Experts in the sector and digital learning portals shared their concerns and suggested ways online education could be made glitch-free with Firstpost: Achin Bhattacharyya, CEO & Founder, Notebook-after-school digital learning portal: We need to digitally connect all schools in the country and also ensure a smooth glitch-free working of the digital infra post its implementation. Creation of tech hubs, from where quality vernacular content can be disseminated is the need of the hour. Considering the role that ed-tech companies played during the pandemic, it will be a prudent step if they are given the required support and impetus to grow by making capital accessible to them, facilitate various collaborations with leading universities and reduce GST rates on online education. Sunita Gandhi, Founder - Global Classroom Pvt. ltd. and Global Education Training institute: We expect the 2021 Union Budget to be open to creating an ed-tech ecosystem with greater access to the Internet and robust data protection. By allowing innovation in the sector and improving the basic digital infrastructure of the country, the government can ensure that our education system is immune to any pandemic in the future. We believe this year’s Budget will focus more on making education accessible, affordable, and scalable. Sumeet Mehta, Co-founder & CEO, LEAD School- Edtech companies in the K-12 segment: In view of the disruptions in the learning process, it is important that some corrective methods through fiscal measures be undertaken in the upcoming general Budget such as Teacher relief fund for APS. The government should consider a budgetary allocation to set up a relief fund to provide easy credit or teacher salary fund for affordable private schools; pilot fund for PPP for government schools: a public-private partnership to improve learning outcomes in government schools; budgetary allocation to overhaul school-based assessment, learning gaps fund to help affordable private schools to address these gaps in learning by making provisions for refresher courses or bridge programmes between two classes will definitely benefit students in covering up the lost year; monetary support for data connection in schools. The government must provide at least one data connection in every affordable private school and government school so that they are connected to the digital knowledge ecosystem. Shishir Kumar, Director General, ImaginXP, focused on partnership with universities to provide future skill degrees: Last year’s Budget had allocated Rs 38,317 crore, 40 percent of the total Budget towards higher education. With one in 5 students unskilled for the modern workplace and about 60 percent unemployability among higher education graduates in India, I request the finance minister to increase the higher education Budget by about at least 25 percent. Last year only Rs 125 crore was allocated to teacher training and adult training. We have to invest in the right future skill force, as only then can we achieve the prime minister’s $5 trillion dream. Aakash Chaudhry, Managing Director, Aakash Educational Services: We are expecting the government to increase education expenditure in the current education Budget. With more focus on the implementation of the new policy, quality and tax-free education and skill development, the reforms will pave ways for more blue-collar jobs. Classroom education has undergone a complete change due to the pandemic. We expect the government to put more focus on the usage of digital education in Tier 2,3 cities and envisage avenues to make India as one of the preferred higher education destinations in the world. Mihir Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Teachmint, ed-tech firm: A lot of learning today is happening outside schools and colleges. While the government has always been considerate in keeping the core services of schools, colleges and universities out of the scope of GST, outside-school education is still being largely taxed at 18 percent GST slab. It is important to note that the scope of such supplementary education is very wide such as hobby classes, sports training, spoken English, coaching for school subjects, college entrances or government examinations etc. Currently, the applicable GST ends up getting passed on to the students and parents, adding to affordability issues. A reconsideration of GST slab on supplementary education can give a significant boost to attempts being made by the industry in democratising access to quality education. Ali Sait, CEO, Tech Avant-Garde, edtech firm: The Union Budget outlay for Digital Transformation in Education should be $1 billion for the year 2021-22. For immediate ‘Digital Transformation’, a school might require an investment of Rs 10 lakh, students Rs 15,000 each and every teacher Rs 50,000. Keeping in letter and spirit of the New Education Policy, the government should look at funding various stakeholders of education to Go Digital. The schools should get funds to upgrade their digital infrastructure. Students should get direct benefit vouchers to acquire technology. The teachers’ should get a scholarship or interest-free loans to enhance their digital teaching skills and to acquire devices and software. Shashank Udupa, Co-founder and CFO, Avalon Meta-digital university for new-age skills: Budget 2021 is going to be quite exciting to watch this year. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the GoI has spent a lot of money in reviving the economy by providing different reliefs over time, which it must somehow recover. At the same time, the common man also expects some relief from the Budget such as tax cuts, increase in deduction limits from 80C, decreased interest rates on loans or a continued moratorium on existing loan payments. Manoj K Arora, Vice-Chancellor, BML Munjal University: The government expenditure on education is meagre. The current public expenditure on education in India has been around 4.4 percent of GDP. This needs to be significantly increased to 6-7 percent of GDP with combined contribution of the Centre and State governments. Similarly, if we want to give due importance to research, the research and innovation investment, which currently stands at about 0.7 percent of GDP as compared to 4.3 percent of GDP in a small country like Israel, needs also to be enhanced to at least 2 percent of GDP. During the pandemic, we have seen the importance of indigenous research in different sectors, be it agriculture, healthcare, IT and manufacturing. This will indeed give a boost to the proposal on creation of the National Science Foundation, as envisaged in the National Education Policy. The NSF will act as a robust and efficient support system to facilitate research in higher education institutions, and is being eagerly awaited. Beas Dev Ralhan, CEO & Co-Founder, NextEducation India, K-12 education solutions provider: The education sector is looking forward to a Budget that meets the modern-day needs of virtual learning in terms of infrastructure and financial support. The shift to virtual learning requires sufficient funds that will empower the education system. Promoting the inclusion of Artificial Intelligence and other emerging technologies into teaching-learning practices will change the face of education for the better. Along with this, a financial boost to the educational institutions will go a long way in building a bright future for students. Prajodh Rajan, Co-Founder & Group CEO, EuroKids International: The much-awaited Union Budget should direct its resources on implementation of NEP, building teacher capacities and augmenting health and hygiene at school levels. While the education segment faced many challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we look forward to the Budget targeted to provide relief and support for this very important segment that plays a pivotal role in nation-building. Prateek Shukla, Co-Founder and CEO, Masai School-a military-style coding boot camp: The year 2020 laid a great foundation for online learning and we just expect the momentum to grow in 2021. Keeping in mind this pulse of the nation along with a larger agenda of skilling and making the Indian workforce job-ready, the government should consider implementing steps that will encourage investor interest to boost the growth of the sector. We would like to urge the government to reduce the GST on online education services in the 2021 Budget. We also expect full support from the government in terms of fund allocation to further rise in 2021. Preethaa Ganesh, Vice President, Vels Group of Institutions: The Union Budget for 2021-2022 is much-awaited one as this would be the first Budget after the introduction of New Education Policy. We are expecting the government to increase fund allocation for education and that it goes up for higher education specifically, in order to cater to India's ever-growing need for quality human capital. The Budget should also have an increased focus on the accessibility and usage of digital education in Tier 2, 3 cities. Considering that private universities and colleges cater to a large number of students in the country, the government should focus on how private institutions can be supported in building world-class institutions that can make India one of the preferred higher education destinations in the world. Sameer Nigam, CEO & Co-founder, Stratbeans-a company that drives digital transformation through AI-based online learning: The Union Budget for FY 2021-22 is one of the most anticipated socio-economic events for this year. As the government and many other agencies have projected slower economic growth via the last financial year, there will be more emphasis on ‘ease of doing businesses’. Needless to say, the general public and businesses are really hopeful for some major relief in Budget announcements. Sujatha Kumaraswamy, CEO, MeritTrac Services: It is imperative that the Union Budget considers the challenges faced by the education sector since March 2020. There is now a need to strengthen and elaborate the New Education Policy for implementation at the grassroots level and provide the necessary budgetary allocation to support in terms of quality education as well as infrastructure. The new school assessment scheme that is planned for 2022-2023 needs to be detailed out soon so that educational institutes can plan the necessary implementations. We also hope to see more clarity in the National Professional Standards for Teachers with an extensive focus on teacher training. Besides, more details are awaited on the proposed IN-SAT exams to be held in African and Asian countries for foreign student benchmarking. Gaurav Vohra, Co-founder & CEO, Jigsaw Academy-data science institute: There is a dire need to incorporate cutting-edge technologies, such as Cloud and AI-based learning tools, to enhance the efficiency of online education. In the Union Budget 2021, the government should consider reducing the current tax of 18 percent on the EdTech sector to enable access to quality education for learners all over the country. The government should also try and implement a 100 percent FDI policy that will allow EdTech companies to acquire more funding to invest in R&D, allowing them to provide enhanced education facilities powered by best-in-class technologies to learners. Anshuman Das, CEO, and Co-founder, CareerNet, talent acquisition organisation: The government should bridge the gap between academic curriculum and industry demands. It should endorse women's welfare by incentivising women employment. Consider providing tax breaks to companies that employ a higher percentage of women in their workforce. This will strengthen the employment opportunities for women while companies can utilise the tax sops to fund women-centric initiatives. The government should stimulate the development of new-age skills. Offering government-endorsed, standardised skill development programs and providing professional certification to students and accreditation to training institutes will bring credibility and inspire more students to enroll for them. Sanjay Padode, president, Vijaybhoomi University: The government can give a huge push towards infrastructure spend by putting money in the hands of the masses. Permitting foreign players in sectors such as defence, education, multi-brand retail and real estate may bring in more protests but eventually will lead to foreign investments and shall boost the economy. For NEP 2020 to flourish, the government must consider introducing financial instruments that will help the higher education sector to raise funding to develop diverse faculty that can offer interdisciplinary curriculums. Also, relax the norms on REITs to help private education institutions unlock capital from their rich real estate holdings. Surabhi Goel, CEO, Aditya Birla World Academy, Aditya Birla Education Academy, The Aditya Birla Integrated School (Education): There is an increased need for investing in virtual forms of education and training through digital tools, upskilling and digital training for teachers through interactive mentoring sessions, leadership training and more. We hope the government increases the funds allocated to the education sector especially when it comes to resources such as the internet as this will open up countless new opportunities for the sector to grow and thrive. The government will also need to look at easing education loan norms. Abhishek Kumar Rohit, Associate Professor & Co-Chair – PGDM-BKFS, TAPMI: I expect active measures in terms of changes in tax brackets to boost the disposable personal income of the middle class. Secondly, sectors which are seeing a rise in input costs because of supply chain disruptions and rising commodity costs globally, such as construction, should be supported by GST adjustments and import duty cuts, respectively. I would expect steps for cost reduction in the construction sector by reducing GST on construction materials for the affordable housing sector. I expect incentivizing investments and modernization of SMEs to make them capital intensive and competent globally. For longer-term goals, I would also like to see plans for making India self-reliant in the energy sector and supporting infrastructure of the K-12 segment by especially focusing on semi-urban and rural areas where education has taken a major hit. Preeta George, Associate Dean, Executive Education, Bhavan’s SPJIMR: The pandemic has not only led to demand-side shocks but supply-side shocks as well. Besides demand boosting measures such as direct spending through government schemes, there is an imminent need to tackle the supply side factors especially with respect to skill development. Budget 2021-22 is the right time to give National Education Policy an impetus as the economy is recovering from demand-side shocks and dealing with the skill-related supply-side bottlenecks can give the economy an additional momentum. The Budget of 2021-22 will need an additional allocation to provide for the required funds in order to implement the NEP successfully. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur: The pandemic has once again underscored the digital divide that exists in this country. A lot of schools especially run by the government in rural belts, small towns got badly impacted due to the yawning digital divide. Therefore, the first and foremost issue that needs to be addressed in this upcoming Budget is allocation of funds to develop digital infrastructure across the country, especially rural India, to bridge the gap between rural and urban and there is no inequality. The government must evaluate the situation on the ground and spend on assets for long-term that includes smart classroom, Internet connection and upskilling of teachers in line with NEP 2020. If we want to give due importance to research, the research and innovation investment, which currently stands at about 0.8 percent of GDP needs to be enhanced to at least 2 percent of GDP. Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International School: The Budget must prepare a financial scheme for the implementation of NEP and ensure adequate resources for expanding and strengthening the education system. Allocating 6 percent of the GDP towards education would lead to a healthy start in the further progress to build a strong foundation. Opening FDI into education would be a good option as well. Abhimanyu Saxena, Co-founder, Scaler and InterviewBit: In the upcoming Budget, we expect that the government to lower the GST levied on the ed-tech industry. It is currently at 18 percent; but if it were to go down by even 1 or 2 percent, it would have a significant impact-making online education that much more accessible and affordable. Another thing that could be implemented is allowing working professionals some tax benefits redeemed against the fees paid for online upskilling courses and programs. A similar policy can be introduced for loans being taken for online courses as well. Recognition from apex bodies like UGC, AICTE, and NSDC will also help alleviate digital education and upskilling programs' status and awareness. Srinivas Chunduru, Founder - Vans Group (Investing |Skilling| Advisory): The Budget must increase the spend on education and edu-tech firms. There are two critical areas that hopefully would get addressed in this budget: one is an increasing the budget for the education sector from current 4-4.5 percent of GDP to higher along with a focus on more allocation for encouraging edu-techs. There is a need to facilitate easy financing options for infrastructure, mobiles, fees and other elements of EdTech’s ecosystem in order to improve the accessibility of education to communities at large. In order to encourage the investment sentiment from the entrepreneurs of this sector, the current taxation of 18 percent can be re-looked into so as to make digital education more affordable across the country. Amit Gainda, CEO, Avanse Financial Services: The Union Budget 2021-22 should focus on education institutions and provide them ‘infrastructure status’. Besides, the government should provide refinance option for retail education loans, focus on skill development sector to make Indian youth job-ready. The government should relook at the income tax structure to help salaried employees have the necessary liquidity to tackle the negative impact of the pandemic.
1 Comment
In Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needs to focus on digital education to provide equal opportunity to everyone. Budget 2021 Expectations for Education: Covid crisis forced the education fraternity to adopt the digital mode as offline classes could not be held due to the rapid spread of Coronavirus and Lockdown-like measures. Apart from classes, examinations have also been held in online mode. The adoption of digital mode in the education sector in India was very much there but the pandemic has underlined the need for digital technology in education at every level. In Budget 2021, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman needs to focus on digital education to provide equal opportunity to everyone. “The COVID-19 crisis has been a major catalyst in the adoption of digital technology in education at every level. 2020 built a strong foundation for online education and, now 2021 is ready to integrate with a jump start. I believe that even when the pandemic is over, India’s education system can be raised by several meters. I believe that ed-tech startups are here to stay, with no turning back, owing to what we bring to the table. With these drastic, prevalent changes in the education system, we have high hopes in 2021 for the sector!” Akash Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, eduTinker, said.“As we enter a brand new year, we anticipate the need for better internet infrastructure and robust data protection, in order to expand digitized education. We, as ed-tech startups, expect unwavering support from the government, via the allocation of funds to further rise in the Budget 2021. Also, the State Governments must come up with initiatives for schools where free digital education is provided to every student, without a second thought,” Aggarwal said. “2020 has been an unforgiving year and among the many industries severely affected by the pandemic, the education sector and learning is one of them. The pillars of primary as well as higher education was shaken abruptly resulting in learning losses particularly to those who lack digital access. The pandemic has once again underscored the digital divide that exists in this country. A lot of schools especially run by the government in rural belts, small towns got badly impacted due to the yawning digital divide. Government schools where 80 per cent to 90 per cent of Indian students’ study are some of the biggest sufferers as students do not have the paraphernalia to attend online classes. Therefore, the first and foremost issue that needs to be addressed in this upcoming Budget is allocation of funds to develop digital infrastructure across the country, especially rural India, to bridge the gap between rural and urban and there is no inequality. The government must evaluate the situation on ground and spend on assets for long term that includes smart classroom, Internet connection and upskilling of teachers in line with National Education Policy 2020 (NEP-2020) in Budget 2021,” Professor Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur said. “Education is one of the primary sectors in any country and there is a huge expectancy from Budget 2021 for reviving the sector after the Covid-induced challenges that the industry has faced this year. The pandemic has given us a clear picture of the great digital divide in our country. The underprivileged are at a disadvantage due to the lack of proper facilities to attend online classes. They do not have enough resource to afford digital education. Covid acted as an eye opener to reveal that India is yet not prepared for digital education and the Budget must mitigate these challenges. There are expectations of adding more budgetary measures to reform the education sector as was recommended in the NEP 2020. The education system requires higher investments to progress. The Budget 2021 of this year must prepare a financial scheme for the implementation of NEP and ensure adequate resources for expanding and strengthening the education system,” Dr. Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KiiT International School. “NEP 2020 and COVID-19 made it prominent that this year K12 education sector needs more attention and priority from Government of India in the Budget 2021. Allocating of 6 per cent of the GDP towards Education would lead to a healthy start in the further progress to build a strong foundation. Opening FDI into education would be a good option as well. With schools around the country re-opening, the budget should also be allocated towards safety measures to ensure that the virus does not spread. The budget should also allot adequate resources to funds and scholarships to provide equal quality education among all students,” Dr.Bal said. “This time Budget 2021 has to be like never before. More as 3.0 or 4.0 of its version making 2021 as a total comeback year for Indian economy and business machinery. The emphasis should be on core growth engines that sustained and helped us to combat Covid times in 2020- Essential FMCG, Essential HealthCare and Digital adoption. Special provisions and schemes are to be introduced to increase Digital Education and relevant Digitization to foster employment generation as well as re-employment. Taxation structure and slabs both on income and goods or services are to be reviewed with ‘revival of economy’ mindset towards real self-sustenance building under Aatmnirbhar and Make in India schemes. Incentivisation for Start ups and Self Employment can be kept as a special provision to reduce unemployment and encourage entrepreneurship. Special category of employment generators is to be looked and created within each industry to spear head growth as R&R (Reboot or Revive) for its growth,” Deepak Goel, CEO, iMET Global said. The pandemic Forced millions of children out of school and is perceived to have done damage to their education and mental health. To bring students and teachers back to school seems a distant dream. It’s unclear when they will before the vaccine is distributed. We must remember schools have been an origin for socialization, learning, food and childcare. A closure so sudden has heightened the instability. We have to learn and teach our children to break all shackles to establish a sense of normalcy in order to demonstrate resilience, creativity and innovation. Crisis strengthens resilience and pushes us towards innovation. We have to prepare our children towards an innovation processed learning to face a crisis-proof future.
The post-pandemic time will be more creatively strengthened because innovation through cheap tools, access to high powered inexpensive computing, access to invent new products and services has become a norm. The industrial revolution produced a world that created a divide between employers, employees, and educators. The progress of digitization and globalization of services has been remarkably hastened by the pandemic because the world has come together more tightly than ever. Strong fundamentals in learning maths, reading and writing have always remained strong parameters for assessing learning. But the pandemic has unveiled a trail that demands creativity, curiosity and passion to be the dominant structure underpinning learning. Now as the world is moving towards a skill-based education and towards something like work and learn the situation, it’s very much required that the new hybrid learning needs to be designed and not transferred from traditional lessons. A crisis like this, cannot-be refrained from, our education system has to be strengthened to meet every eventuality in the future. A virtual school can bring about a more equitable situation if we can overcome the digital divide. A hybrid model, intended to restrict density in schools and permit social distancing should be followed. More interactivity and collaboration in the-learning modules is required to keep students engaged. A mix of digital and in-person teaching can be the way forward. Remediation classes can be conducted online. There is a need for the inclusion of more formative assessments such as presentations, projects, and activities to encourage learning by doing concept. Invigilation and evaluations are required to be rigorously monitored and digitalized. Technical knowledge upskilling is the need of the moment, because this generation has access to plenty of websites offering lessons, our educators need to make learning more interesting, informative to make it look helpful. We have to focus in getting the best of both mediums. virtual learning helps self-directed students and one on one helps students struggling. Introducing audio- visual enabled textbooks in schools. Therefore, there are features in online learning that should be embraced simultaneously we have to address the inequities associated with it so that there are no students left behind. We have to also make way for space where children can meet their friends. Uncovering something new brings about innovation in education. Different ways of looking into world issues and solving them are the need of the hour, and this can be achieved through innovative education. Our education should have a real-life connect. Why innovation is required? It has been found out that 40% of employers find it difficult to recruit employees with difficulty in communications and critical thinking skills. It’s required to cultivate these skills to meet 21st century needs. To strengthen the education workforce, teachers are required to be facilitators rather than transmitters of content. 21st-century learning skills will be creativity, problem-solving, communication and analytical thinking, these skills are to be included in the curriculum. Conceptual learning by making students learn by teaching method. Make learning interesting and application-oriented. There has to be innovation in teaching. Give students a real-life world problem to tackle, fail try again. Giving the opportunity to students to voice on matters. A pedagogy based on discovery and inquiry is far more interesting than remembering dates and information. Open-ended questions also guide in honing leadership skills. Lesson plans must integrate critical thinking and communication skills. Moreover, classrooms are required to be fluid and provide flexibility to support one-to-one learning, collaboration and group discussions. A flipped classroom is also an innovative method where students view lectures, read texts or do research as their home assignment, the time spent in class should be reserved for activities, that can include peer to peer learning or collaborative work. Innovation is always required to bring about a qualitative change in education as opposed to quantitative changes. Technology is essential and needs to be harnessed to bolster effective and qualitative learning and foster equity in the way other public sectors have. It’s so much important today that we have to nurture the critical thinking skills, creativity, imagination skills that can be cultivated by adopting proper practices in an interdisciplinary platform. If we notice the pandemic witnessed a steep increase in the use of digital devices and the internet. Schools, universities have taken to technology. An increase in online teaching has expanded the possibilities of learning beyond the classroom and how. The past few days have seen the narrowing down of the digital divide, the crisis has equipped us with the required support to administer digital online education in a much convenient way. In recent years the government has spent heavily on ICT in schools. This has increased the quality of educational resources including ICT and connectivity. However international survey has found that digital technologies have not yet been fully integrated into teaching and learning. Teachers are not sufficiently skilled to use ICT effectively. The potential of technology has saved us to an extent in this crisis. We have to innovate effective pedagogical goals and learning goals that need to be blended with technology meaningfully. 27 December 2020, Bhubaneswar : The Right of Children to Free & Compulsory Education Act (2009) passed by the Parliament requires the state to provide free and compulsory education to all the children from the age of 6 to 14 years and has the potential to herald an era of inclusive growth in India. However, providing equal opportunities for persons with disability has always been observed as the barrier in the course of development of education system. Inclusive Education (IE) is defined
as a process of addressing the diverse needs of all learners by reducing barriers to, and within the learning environment. The SEN (Special Education Need) department of KIIT International School, Bhubaneswar is the most professional and advanced department in Odisha which offers inclusive education. Speaking on the unique department and the need for an Inclusive Education, Dr Mona Lisa Bal, Chairperson, KIIT International School said, “There are more than 40 million children, countrywide, from age 4 to 16 years who have special educational needs, and this cohort needs to be integrated in the mainstream towards building a developed nation. Numerous research has shown that children do better academically when in inclusive settings and Inclusion provides opportunities to develop relationships. Children learn social gestures, empathy, sharing and caring when they get an inclusive environment. Inclusive education not only provides equal opportunity to Child With Special Needs (CWSN) but also provides platform for the rest to know and understand the world from a different perspective and to make space for them with dignity ensured.” She further added, “Inclusive education is extensively practiced at our school and we have special programs and initiatives for these children. Through our recent edition of ‘Cup and Talk’, parent teacher meetings, we had invited parents of CWSN and exchanged several ideas and practices to ensure continuity in learning and managing children especially during these tough times.” The SEN department of KIIT International School has an excellent Teacher Student ratio of 1:2 and offers various therapeutic and psychological assessment services like Speech Therapy, Oromotor Exercises, PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) for language development, Receptive and Expressive language development, Behavioural and Language Assessment, Occupational Therapy and Psychological and Sensory Assessment for individual development in both social and academic front. SEN imparts social skills, Individualized education program, Stress on pre-writing skills and concept development, Remedial assistance in reading, writing, spelling skills and concept development, Skill development classes (Computer) for grade 5 onwards, Storey telling and Play way method for KG students, Fine Motor and Gross Motor skill development. Swimming, Dancing, Music, Sports classes and field visits for children for life skill development are organized regularly for overall development of children. Audio visual method of teaching along with advanced level of teaching aid is provided to enhance academic level of children. The SEN department has a tie-up with Autism Society of West Bengal for speech, language development. Currently the department has more than 50 children having different difficulties with regard to learning skills and concepts. Children with Autism, intellectual impairments, hyperactivity, and learning disability are taken care by the SEN department. Trained therapists like speech, occupational, cognitive, behavioural and special educators are appointed to assess each child and understand their needs and then prepare a plan to make the child learn to read and to make them independent. The very purpose of Inclusive Education is to ensure a platform to get education with equal opportunity is of high priority for the school. Children from SEN Department are encouraged to participate in all the co-curricular and extra -curricular activities with special assistance and training. Integrating CWSN with mainstream students to build a coherent educational environment is one of the primary objectives, which the school is continuously trying to achieve. Besides the policies and programmes, KiiT international school believes that, these Special children have special talents and with a little support they can make their presence felt in more meaningful ways. |
Dr. Monalisa Bal chairpersonDr. Mona Lisa Bal graduated in Political Science with honors from Calcutta University and post-graduated from Utkal University. She is also a post graduate in Business Administration from KIIT University. She did her Doctorate in “Effective Learning in a Joyful Environment”, culminating into publication of a pioneering book “Transformation in the Pedagogy of Education in India”. pUBLISHED BOOKSArchives
January 2024
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