An alumna of Mumbai University and Xavier University, Cincinnati (USA), with professional certification from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, IIM-Ahmedabad and Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania (USA), Seema Saini is CEO and principal of the CISCE-affiliated N.L. Dalmia High School, Thane, Mumbai.

Are you satisfied with the Union Budget 2018-19 allocation of Rs.85,010 crore for education?

I’m far from satisfied. The percentage share of this year’s budget allocation for education has dropped compared to last year. This shows how little importance our government gives to investing in the country’s future. While there’s intent to improve public education in rural as well as urban areas in qualitative and quantitative terms, an action plan is missing. It would do the country a great deal of good if the government takes some intelligent measures to overhaul the public education system and contribute to building a stronger and skilled young India.

What are your Top 5 suggestions for reforming K-12 education?

Integrate technology with education. Technology has changed every aspect of people’s lives. Therefore, it’s imperative to adopt and adapt to new technologies to improve student learning outcomes.

Develop children’s social and emotional skills. Social and emotional skills will help our children deal with the demands of a new globalised world — resolve conflicts, become collaborative, sensitive etc.

Use pedagogies to raise curiosity quotient. Teaching-learning processes should adopt inter-disciplinary approaches to make learning relevant and immersive for children.

Develop responsibility towards society. We need to equip our children with virtues to lead the change for a new equitable, progressive and sustainable society.

Design discovery-based learning curriculums. Innovations emerge from exploratory and application-based learning.