Ashish Gulati
Vice-Chairman, Blue Bells Group of Schools, Gurugram

Ashish Gulati is vice-chairman of the Blue Bells Group of Schools comprising five schools and preschools in Gurugram with over 3,700 children and 350 faculty.

• I expect the NCFSE to provide guidelines to all schools countrywide to introduce new pedagogies that enable active student engagement, experiential learning, critical thinking and problem-solving over rote learning and knowledge dependency. In our Blue Bells schools, we use collaborative learning, inquiry-based and flipped learning pedagogies to make teaching-learning enjoyable and engaging for children. And the results are excellent. We are ready to share these pedagogies with any school countrywide.
• I hope the new national curriculum framework will provide a roadmap to make learning more enjoyable for all children countrywide. Teachers have to be advised to design personalised learning plans so that children learn and progress at their own pace.
• In the overwhelming majority of India’s 1.5 million schools, teaching-learning is teacher-led. I’m expecting NCFSE 2023 to change this by advocating pedagogies that promote self-regulated learning to encourage children to also become independent learners.
• NEP 2020 has called for the “education system to be reconfigured” so that all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be achieved by 2030. Therefore, I am looking forward to the national curriculum incorporating the SDGs to promote responsible citizenship within all schoolchildren countrywide. In our schools, we have successfully integrated the SDGs into curriculums by designing hands-on projects on climate change, energy conservation, and sustainable development.
• I am also looking forward to the NCFSE providing guidelines for all schools to develop skills and competencies required by higher education institutions and by industry. For instance, college readiness programmes, vocational education courses and apprenticeship/internship opportunities for students.