Short Bio of Speakers

4th International Policy Dialogue Forum on
Teachers for EFA in India on
29th-30th May, 2012.
BRIEF INTRODUCTI
OF THE SPEAKERS
29th-30th May, 2012
ON
Profile and photos of the experts & speakers of ‘Policy Dialogue Forum’
Prof. R. Govinda
Vice Chancellor, NUEPA
Prof. R. Govinda is Vice Chancellor of National University of
Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), New Delhi.
Previously he has worked in the Institute of Education,
University of London, M.S. University of Baroda and
International Institute of Educational Planning (IIEP), UNESCO.
He is a member of several national and international bodies.
He is on the editorial board of the ‘Global Monitoring Report’ for ‘Education for All’;
is a Consultant Fellow to International Bureau of Education; member of the Central
Advisory Board of Education; and member of the National Advisory Committee on
Right to Education of Government of India. His research interests include primary
education and literacy, decentralized management, programme evaluation, and
reforms in higher education. He has published widely on these issues in several
books and journals. Oxford University Press has recently published another book by
him entitled “Who goes to School Exploring Exclusion in Indian Education”.
Prof. Parvin Sinclair
Director, NCERT
Prof. Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT), is a professor of
Mathematics. She has been closely associated with the field of
education, especially mathematics education and distance
learning, for over two decades. At the Indira Gandhi National
Open University, Prof Sinclair also developed, with the help of
individuals working in the field, a certificate programme in teaching of primary
school mathematics, a first of its kind in the world.
Apart from being a mathematician and educationist, Prof. Sinclair also chairs the
Aruna Sinclair Foundation, which sponsors vocational training of mentally
challenged female adults.
Dr. Kishore Singh,
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
Dr Kishore Singh holds a Ph. D. in international law (1977) from
the University of Paris 1 (Sorbonne). Fluent in English and French,
he has long standing professional experience in the field of the
right to education, as a result of the work accomplished by him
over the years at UNESCO (till 2009) including collaboration with the UN human rights
treaty bodies. He has provided technical assistanceto several countries for
developing/modernizing national legalisation as part of the EFA process, thus
strengthening the foundations of the right to education in national legal systems. He has
contributed to the development of the right to education in its various dimensions, and
promoted its better understanding as an internationally recognized right.
Dr Kishore Singh is the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education since August
2010, and has engaged in informal consultations with State representatives,
international organizations and non-governmental organizations, and he has
participated in a number of public events concerning the right to education. He attaches
importance to especially maintaining close cooperation with the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as well as with the United
Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
His first report to the Human Rights Council presented in June 2011 addressed the
issues in equality of opportunity in education. He has just presented his interim
report on Financing of Basic Educationto the UN General Assembly along with an
update on right to education inemergency situations. Dr. Kishore Singh has a large
number of publications to his credit the field of the right to education, to which he
has devoted his career.
Dr. JanakiRajan
Faculty of Education
JamiaMiliaIslamia
Dr. JanakiRajan is professor in education, Faculty of
Education, JamiaMilliaIslamia, New Delhi and
E.Desmond Lee Scholar for Global Awareness,
WebsterUniversity, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She was
Director, SCERT, Delhi from 2000-2006 and Reader,
Central University of Education, DelhiUniversity from 1994-2000; Research
Associate, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, 1992-94. Prior to that, she has
taught at primary and secondary schools and headed a teacher education institute
for Muslim minorities in Hyderabad.
Dr. Rajan holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Masters in Education, English
Literature and Psychology. Her doctoral thesis was on development of the concepts
of space and time among primary school children using the Piagetian framework.
Her research interests are curriculum and pedagogic studies, gender studies, human
rights, community engagement for universal elementary education and teacher
education. She is an Ashoka Fellow- Innovators for the Public. She has a number of
publications and is associated with several professional and non-government
organizations.
Professor PoonamBatra
Central Institute of Education
(Department of Education)
University of Delhi
PoonamBatra is Professor of Education at the Maulana
Azad Centre for Elementary and Social Education,
Central Institute of Education, University of Delhi with
over 29 years of teaching, research and professional experience in education.
Major areas of professional focus include public policy in education; curriculum
and pedagogy; social psychology of education, teacher education and gender
studies. Awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 2008 for undertaking
research in teacher education and social change, Professor Batra has been on
several GoI Committees including the Planning Commission Working Group on
Teacher Education and the NAC-RtE Task Force on teachers. Publications cover a
range of issues in elementary education and public policy including an edited
volume on Social Science Learning in Schools: Perspective and Challenges,
published by Sage in 2010.
Dr. Padma Sarangpani
Professor
Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai
Dr. Sarangapani is Professor at the Tata Institute of Social
Sciences, Mumbai. She has worked in the area of
elementary education, curriculum studies and teacher education, and has
collaborated closely with State government of Karnataka on the District and
subdistrict level resource institutions for teachers. She is currently involved
with a study on quality in education and on resource centres for teacher
professional develoepment. Her book Constructing School Knowledge is
published by Sage, 2003.
Dr.RohitDhankar
Professor
AzimPremji University, Bangalore
Professor of Philosophy of Education in AzimPremji
University, Bangalore, also teaches a philosophy of
education course as visiting faculty at TISS, Bombay.
Rohit has been part of many NCERT initiatives in
developing material and curriculum through various committees. He was an integral
part of the National Curriculum Framework 2005 process as a member of the
National Steering Committee, drafting committee and Chair of Focus Group on
Curriculum, Syllabus and Textbooks. He is also a part of the collaborative group of
institutions that developed the M.A. Elementary Education programme of TISS and
has been involved with capacity building of educational functionaries at the national
level and with various states.
He trained as a teacher under David Horsburgh in the Neelbagh School, and taught
at the elementary level for about 15 years. Is founder secretary of Digantar, a
voluntary organization in Jaipur engaged in providing alternative education to rural
children.Digantar endeavours to nurture self-motivated and independent learners
equipped with the ability to think critically. As an organisation Digantar has been
and continues to work with government system at the level of improvement in
schools, working with DIETs, in-service training and research in education.
Smt. B. SeshuKumari,
Director, SCERT, Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad
1. Presently working as Director, SCERT (from Jan
2011)
2. Director, Community Managed Education Services,
Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), RD
Department (from Oct 08 to Dec 2010)
3. Resource Group Director, Human Development, Centre for Good Governance
(CGG) (2005 to Oct 08)
4. School Education Department: State Academic Monitoring Officer,
SarvaShikshaAbhiyaan, AP (2004 -05), Deputy Director, Planning & Statistics,
School Education Department, AP(1998-2002), DEO, Ranga Reddy(2003),
Deputy Educational Officer & Assistant Director of School Education (1988 -98)
Work in School Education Department:
1. Worked as State Survey Officer, VI and VII All India Education Survey
2. Instrumental in computerization of School Education Department,
publication of educational statistics, school directories and use of
educational MIS in planning
3. Introduced online transfers and postings of teachers as DEO, RR which was
scaled up in the entire state
4. Conduct of TET using end- to- end ICT tools
Work in CGG:
1. Coordinated Studies for the Second Administrative Reforms Commission
a. Process Reengineering of ten key service delivery departments
b. Steps to ensure effective administration at state level
2. Other studies:
Strategy for Girl Child Education for the State of AP, Strategic Review of
School Education Department, Strategic Review of SIET, Effective
Utilization of SCP and TSP components, Community Score Card for Schools
– A studyfor the World Bank, ULBs vis-à-vis Education – A study for
Municipal Administration Department
3. Team member in the study “State of Governance Report” for DARPG
Work in SERP
1. Supported community managed ECE centres in tribal areas
2. Introduced targeted voucher scheme for rural talented youth at +2 level as
part of second generation poverty alleviation programme
Dr.OraKwo,
Faculty of Education,
University of Hongkong
OraKwo has taught in the Faculty of Education at theUniversityofHong Kong for
three decades. Much of her work has focused on the dynamics of teachers' learning
and
the
power
of
community
discourses.
In 1997, she was awarded a University Teaching Fellowship in formal recognition of
her excellence in teaching. Among her other edited works are Developing Learning
Environments: Creativity, Motivation and Collaboration in Higher Education (2004)
and a special issue of the International Journal of Educational Research (2004)
entitled
Uncovering
the
Inner
Power
of
Teachers'
Lives.
Her research also examines the significance of inter-disciplinary learning and
community approaches for educational leadership.
Prof. VimalaRamachandran
National Fellow, NUEPA
VimalaRamachandran, is currently National Fellow at
National University for Educational Planning and
Administration, New Delhi. She was earlier the Founder
& Director of Educational Resource Unit – a group of
researchers and practitioners working on education and
empowerment. She was among the tem of architects and
first National Project Director of MahilaSamakhya (1988-1993) – a Government of
India programme on women’s education based in the Department of Education,
MHRD. She was founder and Managing Trustee of HealthWatch – a women’s health
network from 1994 to 2004. She has published extensively on education, health,
gender issues and women’s empowerment. She has researched and written on
women’s and girl’s education, teacher development and on systemic barriers to
equity and quality in school education in India. She has also worked in the South and
South East Asia region on education, gender and development issues.
Published books / reports:
1. (2011 forthcoming): Edited with KameshwariJandhyala, Cartographies of
empowerment – tracing the journey of MahilaSamakhya, Zubaan Books, New
Delhi
2. (2011) Co-authored with SapnaGoel, Tracking Funds for India’s Most Deprived:
The Story of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights’ “Campaign 789”;
International Budget partnership, Washington DC.
3. (2010): Primary teachers in India – The twists and turns of everyday practice.
AzimPremji Foundation, Bangalore. Available at www.eruindia.org
4. (2010) Gender issues in higher education – Advocacy brief. UNESCO – Asia
Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, Bangkok.
5. (2009) Co-authored with Bharat Patni and Nishi Mehrotra: Equity in School
Water and Sanitation – Overcoming Exclusion and Discrimination in South Asia,
UNICEF ROSA, Kathmandu
6. (2009) Towards Gender Equality in Education; Paper for the Mid-decade EFA
assessment of Government of India, NUEPA Series “Education for All –
Reaching the Unreached”, New Delhi
7. (2009) Co-authored with Bharat Patni, Freedom from Hunger for Children
Under Six – An outline for Save the Children and Civil Society Involvement in
Childhood Undernutrtion in India, Save the Children, New Delhi
8. (2008) Co-authored with Rashmi Sharma: The Elementary Education System in
India: Exploring institutional structures, processes and dynamics. Routledge
New Delhi.
9. (2008): Health and girls education in South Asia: An essential synergy; UNICEF
– UNGEI, Kathmandu
10. (2007) (Ed) Co-authored with LeelaVisaria: Ground Realities – Abortion in
India, Routledge, New Delhi.
11. (2004) Fostering opportunities to lean at an accelerated pace: Why do girls
benefit enormously? UNICEF Working Paper, New Delhi
Dr. DiptaBhog
Founder Member, Nirantar
Dr. DiptaBhog is a founder member of Nirantra Trust. Over the
last two decades she has engaged with both women’s literacy and
elementary education at the policy level and in programme
implementation at the grassroots. She has been involved in conceptualizing and
developing teaching learning material including curriculum for teachers as well as
learners from a gender perspective. She has also worked on developing school
textbooks for middle school state and national boards. She steered a research study
on language and social science textbooks across 5 states titled “Textbook Regimes: A
Feminist Critique of Nation and Identity”.
The capacity building of teachers from gender and equality perspective has been an
important area of her engagement with the education system. She has been involved
in trainings and workshops with personnel involved in various activities ranging
from planning to the implementation of programmes and curriculum. She was
member of the sub committees on girl’s education for the 11 th and 12th five year
plan. Shewas also a member of Gender Focus Group of the National Curriculum
Framework (NCF) 2005.
Ms.Fatimah Kelleher
Fatimah Kelleher is an international consultant with over ten
years’ experience delivering programming and research in social
and human development issues. As an educationalist, Fatimah
has worked widely across gender and education (girl-child
access, strategic approaches for adolescent girls, and boys’
underachievement); education for marginalised communities
(minorities, rural and urban poor, nomadic and other mobile groups); and on
teacher provision (deployment issues, teacher feminisation).
More broadly,
Fatimah is also a gender equality specialist, working extensively on women’s
enterprise development, gender and trade policy, maternal and child health, gender
and conflict issues, and gender responsive budgeting. She has worked for/with a
variety of stakeholders, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, UN agencies
(UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNIFEM), national governments, international NGOs and local
civil society. Geographically, her work has spanned Africa, South Asia and the
Caribbean. As an educationalist she has published in several areas, including on
teacher deployment, nomadic education, boys’ underachievement and on women
and the teaching profession.
Mr. AhlinByll-Cataria
Executive Secretary
Association for the Development of Education in Africa
AhlinByll-Cataria has extensive experience in the identification, elaboration and
development of education programmes with bilateral and multilateral development
agencies. He is currently the Executive Secretary of the Association for the
Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), whose mandate is to act as a catalyst of
innovative policies and practices for the qualitative change of education in Africa. He
heads the secretariat in Tunis (Tunisia) and oversees nine ADEA's working groups
mostly located in other African countries. He is also a member of the Governing
Board of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), representing Togo.
Prior to becoming ADEA's Executive Secretary in August 2008, Ahlin was Senior
Advisor for the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). From 1979
he worked in the field for 10 years as a trainer of trainers in the Swiss literacy
project and as a deputy representative of SDC in Niger. At SDC headquarters in Bern,
he worked for 10 years in the West Africa Division, responsible for programme and
financial planning, development, management and evaluation in Mali and Niger.
Most of his career was spent at SDC, where he also worked for eight years in the
education sector, responsible for the elaboration of basic education policies and
programme management. From 1995-2003, he worked as a consultant in education,
completing mandates in various countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
Middle East for UNESCO and various NGOs.
Dr. Hriday Kant Dewan
Education Advisor
VidyaBhawan Society
Dr. Mohan Sinha Mehta Marg, Fatehpura
Udaipur - 313 004 (Rajasthan),INDIA
Hriday Kant Dewan was a student of Physics and taught at a
Delhi University College before he shifted to improving
Science Education in rural elementary schools through better learning materials,
better in-service preparation of teachers and systems of on site support. After
leaving Delhi University, he was a part of the group that set up Eklavya Foundation
in M.P. He later worked on developing a Holistic Primary Education for rural and
urban schools. After working in Eklavy for 14 years, he joined VidyaBhawan Society
and is currently the Educational Advisor of the Society. He has been involved in
capacity building of teachers, preparation of materials for children and teacher for
primary classes and for Science and Mathematics in elementary classes. He has been
a part of the team designing pre-service and in-service certificate programme for
both elementary and secondary teachers. He has also developed participative and
actively engaging modules for teacher trainings and worked towards preparing key
Resource Persons for that. He has been working in teacher development and in
elementary school education system for the last 30 years or more.
Dr. DilipRanjekar
Chief Executive Officer
AzimPremji Foundation
DileepRanjekar is the founding Chief Executive Officer
of AzimPremji Foundation and has been associated
with the Foundation right from its ideation.
Dileep is a science Graduate and has a Post Graduate Diploma of Business
Management as well as Master’s degree in Personnel Management and Industrial
Relations from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
He joined Wipro from campus in 1976 and was deeply involved in building Wipro as
a professional organization that is deeply committed to Values. While working in the
area of Human Resources, Dileep was significantly responsible for setting the tone
and culture of the organization. The high point of this effort was when Wipro was
assessed at Level 5 of Maturity on the Carnegie Mellon of People Capability Maturity
Model. Wipro was the first company in the world to be assessed at Level 5.
AzimPremji Foundation and AzimPremji University founded by it are not-for-profit
organizations committed to the vision of “contributing towards a just, equitable,
humane and sustainable society”. They run programs and institutions in India for
improving Education and in related Development fields. The focus is on creating
new committed professionals, enhancing the capacity of existing professionals and
functionaries, creating knowledge through top class research and building
awareness & demand among the community members for quality of education that
is consistent with the National Policy for Education. The field programs are run in
collaboration with the government. All this work is primarily focused on the
disadvantaged and the underprivileged in India
The Foundation has worked with thousands of government schools directly and
with many state schooling systems involving over hundred and fifty thousand
schools.
Over the next five years, the foundation will establish Institutions in 8 State capitals
and 50 District Headquarters and also establish 100 schools in these districts. The
AzimPremji Institute for Assessment and Accreditation creates quality frameworks
for schools, Teacher Education institutions, Government organizations such as
SCERT and DIET to develop quality paradigms for these institutions.
Alexandra Draxler
International Expert on PPPs in Education
Alexandra Draxler is an education specialist who worked for many years for
UNESCO. She was the Executive Secretary of the International Commission on
Education for the Twenty-first Century (Delors Commission) whose report was
published in more than thirty languages. She is now an independent consultant
working with private and public sector clients on PPPs, education sector planning
and the use of technologies in education. She is the author of New Partnerships for
EFA: Building on Experience and several other articles and papers on the same
subject.
Dr. M.N.G. Mani
Chef Executive Officer,
ICEVI
Dr. M.N.G. Mani served as the Principal of Ramakrishna
Mission Vidyalaya College of Education, Coimbatore for
many years. He has published extensively in teacher
education, inclusive education, and research. He has
served as a member of many professional committees of RCI, NCTE, NCERT, UGC,
and IGNOU and also worked as a consultant of UNESCO, UNICEF, and WHO. He has
visited more than 50 countries in connection with his professional work. He is
currently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of the International Council for
Education of People with Visual Impairment (ICEVI) and Executive Director of the
Global Campaign on Education for All Children with Visual Impairment (EFA-VI).
Dr. Shanti Auluck
Director & President
Muskaan
Education - Ph. D. Psychology ( DelhiUniversity )
Current position - Director (Hon.) / President, (one of the
founder members of Muskaan).
Muskaan / Parents Association for the empowerment of persons with intellectual
disability
B-2, vasantKunj, N. Delhi 110070.
Formerly, Reader, Dept. of Psychology, Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University.
Taught Psychology at LSR from 1976 to 2005.Deep interest in Psychology and
Indian Philosophical Thought. I have presented papers on Psychology and Vedanta
in several seminars and conferences organized by NCERT, Delhi University,
Aurobindo Society as well as international conferences. I also published articles in
books and journals. I took voluntary retirement from the college in 2005 to devote
full time to Muskaan
One of the founder members of Muskaan ( started in 1982), an NGO formed by
parents and professionals to provide needed services for improving the quality of
life of intellectually challenged children and adults and emotional and knowledge
support to the parents. I have been coordinating various services that the
Association has been rendering to intellectually challenged children and adults and
their parents and families:
One of the pioneering projects of Muskaan has been Vocational Training & Work
Center where intellectually challenged boys and girls are receiving training in
simple vocation skills and work opportunities are created for them. Developed
holistic training program including cognitive and socio-emotional development.
Muskaan has been given several awards for its work and contribution to the field of
intellectual disability including National Award in 2006 for best NGO working in the
field of disability by Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India.
I have given a large number of presentations at various forums on understanding
the people with intellectual disability and worked in several ways to create
awareness about the capabilities of people with intellectual disability. For last
several years I have been engaged with advocacy work for the rights of people with
intellectual and other disabilities who live the most neglected and marginalized life
in our society.
Currently establishing an assisted living centre in Dera Village Delhi so that people
with disabilities can live a safe and dignified life after the death of their parents.
Prof. Anita Julka
Head - Department of Education of Groups with Special
Needs and Inclusive Education Cell,
NCERT, New Delhi
Presently Heading the Department of Education of Groups
with Special Needs and Inclusive Education Cell, National
Council of Educational Research and Training, Delhi, India.
Involved in various research, training, development and extension activities of the
theSarvaShikshaAbhiyan, IEDSS & RMSA, Government of India. Been a member of
various committees, the most important being Position Paper, National Focus
Group, NCERT on Education of Children with Special Needs, National Steering
Committee, NCERT for renewal of National Curriculum Framework, 2005,
Development of the Comprehensive Action Plan for including Children and Youth
with Disabilities in Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, 2005,
Textbook Review Committee, NCERT,
Working Group for the XIIth Plan for
Empowerment of Disabled, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, National
Resource Group, SarvaShikshaAbhiyan, Research Advisory Committee, National
Institute of Visually Handicapped and Proposal Grant Committee MHRD for IEDSS.
Published books and articles in number of International and national journals, the
most recent publication is “Meeting Special Needs in Schools: A Manual, NCERT. The
major research programmes in NCERT include:
An Exploratory Study of Home based Education Practices in SSA, (2010-2012);
Development of Index for Inclusive Schools (2010), An Exploratory Study of Sign
Language (2007), A Review of Existing Instructional Adaptations( General and
Specific) being used in Integrated /Inclusive Classrooms (2006),AStudy of
Programmes and Practices for Education of Children with Special Educational Needs
in Different States -2005), Strengthening the Teacher Education Curriculum of
DIETs from the Perspective of Special Needs Education (2004), Taking Mathematics
to the Visually Impaired Children: A Guide for Primary School Teachers(2001), A
study of benefits derived from existing schemes and programmes for educational
backward minorities (2001), Analysis of the Existing Curriculum in Government
Aided Madrasas (2000).
Dr. Mithu Alur
Founder Chairperson
ADAPT (formerly The Spastics Society of India)
For over 36 years Dr. Mithu Alur has been closely involved
in education, healthcare and employment for women and
children leading to social change, legislation and social
policy. Professionally, a Doctor of Philosophy and policy analyst from the Institute
of Education, University of London, her thesis analysis Indian Government
educational policy for children with disability. The reason for her involvement in
disabled children is daughter Malini, who is disabled. Malini has done two Masters –
in Gender Studies and in Information Technology from University of London.
Dr. Alur set up the first model of the Spastics Society of India in Mumbai in 1972
with the help of Shrimati Indira Gandhi with Shrimati Nargis Dutt as the first Patron
and after her death Shri Sunil Dutt taking on the mantle. Dr. Alur believed in the
holistic all round development of children. She recognized that the mind and body
needed to work in tandem as Cerebral Palsy meant “an intelligent mind trapped in a
disobedient body”. Therefore education and health of the child were inextricably
linked and both had to be nourished for the complete well being of the child.
Dr. Alur began the first special school in India for children with multiply disability
providing both education and therapy under one roof. The new approach was
professionalism combined with care and compassion. Children were to be treated as
children first and not as handicapped children. Parents were given technical and
professional guidance on the care and management of their children and their
families. Identification and assessment of new born and high risk babies along with
neo natal support and care was made available at the centres. Interventions
focussing on better health for the children were an integral part of the services
provided. This path breaking and pioneering work led to the development of a very
successful model of education for children with disability, and a model for the
training of teachers.
At the State level, Dr. Alur has been involved in community based projects involving
State and Municipal authorities, non-governmental agencies, the private sector and
international agencies. At the National level she has helped various regions in the
country to set up services. Today ADAPT’s first model has been replicated in 16 of
the 31 States of the country.
In 1992, Mithu and her colleagues launched the National Centre for Cerebral Palsy
(NCCP) in Mumbai. It was inaugurated by the then Finance Minister, (the present
Indian Prime Minister), Shri Manmohan Singh and Reverend Mother Theresa.
Today, ADAPT is one of the leading organisations working for children with
developmental disorders in a service delivery framework on the ground level, as
well an academic Institution providing various courses accredited by the University
and the Rehabilitation Council of India. It has all the facilities of identification,
assessment, education and treatment; it has early infant clinics for babies, schools
providing a holistic programme combining education and treatment under one roof;
vocational training units for young adults promoting employment; department
working for policy change, advocacy and awareness, research and dissemination
units. Children from the organisation have moved out and become accountants,
lawyers, businessmen, librarians, and have completed their Ph.D.
In 1998, Dr. Alur began her PhD doctoral research where she examined Indian
policy for the disabled in India entitled ‘Invisible Children – a study of Policy
Exclusion’ (which has now been published by Viva Publications, Delhi). Her research
indicated that one of Government of India’s major policies the Integrated Child
Development Schemes (ICDS) excluded disabled children from their services. Her
research examined this policy within the Indian context and found there were many
factors responsible for this and this exclusion was a reflection of a wider malaise in
the country which was affecting all government programmes including the country’s
Education For All or Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Consequently over 90 % of disabled
children and their families received no services. Dr. Alur reported findings of
massive exclusion of children and people with disabilities from services, children
who were not being included in Government programmes targeted at the vulnerable
and weaker sections of society to the extent of nutrition being denied to children
with disabilities.
Dr. Alur began her second journey, building up a broader framework for herself and
her organization. The organisation redefined its goals and its activities. Her work
was now involved with education for all… all children who are out of the purview of
services in the socially disadvantaged areas of India.
In 2000 the National Resource Centre for Inclusion (NRCI) was launched. For 6
years she worked with children and families from the poorest homes in the slum
settlements and ghettoes of the inner city and was instrumental in building up a
range of services where there were none. Today a series of inclusive nurseries have
been set up putting disabled and non-disabled children together.
Dr. Alur was also the Principal Investigator together with a Canadian expert Dr.
Marcia Rioux on a UNICEF supported CIDA project. This was an Action research
project set in the slum areas of Mumbai; it was entitled ‘Inclusive Education Practice
in Early Childhood in Mumbai, India’. This has involved demonstration of inclusive
education, research, evaluation and analyses as well as publication and
dissemination of the findings. Dr. Alur created an Education For All model for ‘all’
children who are disadvantaged to include the girl child, the disabled child and
children in poverty, demonstrating that inclusive education can happen anywhere
including the poorest places. The model was based on work in the Dharavi slums
covering a population of 30,000 working with 6000 families, and with community
teachers who were trained to teach 'all' children. The outcome has been that over
3000 children who were education have been put together in 14 inclusive nurseries
in the slums demonstrating that universal education can be done and from this
research a series of instructional resource material called the ‘How to Series of
Inclusive Education.’ Flip Charts, Manuals, CD Roms, Audio Visual material, Films has
emerged which can be used all over the country. Models for intervention strategies
at the family and community level have been designed. If scaled-up 4 to 5 million
children and families in the poorest areas can be reached.
A new initiative is to provide a platform for the education and awareness of
HIV/AIDS among the women and youth with disability.
On the international front, Mithu began the concept of a Dialogue between the North
South countries and has organised three conferences called the North-South
Dialogue. South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Hong Kong (China), Canada, Norway, UK,
Chile, Pakistan and Russia participated in the Dialogues. The proceedings are now
available in publications, published by UBS Publishers’ Distributors Private Limited,
Viva Books Private Limited and Sage Publications, New Delhi.
In the area of pedagogy, Dr. Alur has initiated a course in collaboration with
Institute of Child Health (CICH) London funded by the Women’s Council, UK which
reaches out to Master Trainers’ in the Asia Pacific Region. This course has valuable
inputs from CICH and is also supported by ADAPT. The Community Initiatives in
Inclusion (CII) course is on its sixth year and has been attracting students from
Mongolia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tonga, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Tajikistan,
Tonga, Sri Lanka, China, Cambodia and Vietnam and from all over India.
The gap between the poor and the affluent is getting wider, as a small sector of
urban India reaps the benefits of economic progress, leaving out of the safety net,
the disadvantaged social sector and those in dire need of basic amenities. This
situation motivated Dr. Mithu Alur, to initiate a new project - The Mithu Alur
Foundation (MAF) under the aegis of ADAPT. The aim of MAF is to introduce an
inclusive village model in the rural and tribal communities of Maharashtra, thereby
reaching disadvantaged sections of the population that remain out of the ambit of
government services. MAF will network with existing State and Government
schools, health and medical services with an aim to provide opportunities for
inclusive education, health and employment within the community.
For 35 years Dr. Alur has written and been published extensively on the issues of
child rights and the `hows’ of educating poor children She has straddled the social
policy dimension with cost effective methodologies of addressing educational needs
of children.
Mr. David Atchoarena,
Director
UNESCO Division for Teachers and Higher Education
David Atchoarena is Director of the Division for Teacher
Development and Higher Education at UNESCO. Prior to holding
this post, he served as Senior Programme Specialist at the International Institute for
Educational Planning (IIEP), UNESCO, Paris where he was heading the Training and
Education Programmes Unit of IIEP, including the IIEP Masters Programme in
Educational Planning and Management (2006-2009). Before joining the Institute in
1991, he served as "Chargé de Mission" at the National Agency for Lifelong
Education (ADEP) of the French Ministry of Education, and as Project Coordinator in
the Ministry of Finance and Planning, in Saint Lucia.
David Atchoarena is also Special Professor at the University of Nottingham (UK).
He holds a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Paris I (PanthéonSorbonne).
His work covered several areas related to educational planning and policies, such as
planning techniques and tools, technical and vocational education and training,
lifelong learning, and education and rural development.
Prof. A.K. Sharma
Former Director
NCERT
Prof. A.K. Sharma’s academic career spans over the Panjab
University, Chandigarh (1961-74) and the National Council of
Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi (197499), which institutions he served in various capacities. His published work during
his tenure with the Panjab University includes Surface Chemistry of Carbons,
Synthetic Inorganic Chemistry and Coordination Chemistry. During his tenure with
the NCERT, he was associated with the work on the All India Educational Surveys,
Surveys of Educational Research and Innovations and curriculum development in
science education, teacher education and distance education. He has been
consultant to the World Bank, Commonwealth of Learning (CoL), Educational
Consultant India Ltd. (Ed.CIL). He is a contributing author to ‘Cross National
Policies and Practices on Computers in Education’, an IEA Study across 20
countries.
Prof. Sharma was a member of the Task Force on Secondary and Teacher
Education for the development of Programme of Action (PoA) to the National Policy
on Education (NPE) 1986/1992. He was one of a 3-member committee to develop
the conceptual document on District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs),
Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) including Institutes of Advanced Studies in
Education (IASEs), components of a centrally-sponsored scheme on teacher
education. He was Chairman of the Sub-committee of the Central Advisory Board of
Education (CABE) on drafting the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory
Education Act, 2009 and the draft Model Rules to the Act.
Prof. Pranati Panda
Professor- Department of Comparative Education and
International Cooperation,
NUEPA
Prof. Pranati Panda is a Professor in the department of
Comparative Education and International Cooperation of
National University of Educational Planning and Administration
(NUEPA). She has M.Phil and Ph.D degree in (Education),International Certificate
Courses on Education Sector Diagnosis ,IIEP, Paris ;Certificate Course on Child
Rights ,Ghent University, Belgium; was on the research and teaching faculty of
National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCED) and
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT); authored
books/chapter in books and several research papers and articles published in
national and international journals, developed monographs, self-learning modules,
teacher training packages; specializes in teacher and teacher education policy,
teacher management issues , school based in-service education and training of
teachers, class size , school quality and safety, human rights education and
education for peace; Consulted by the United Nation High Commissioner for Human
Rights, APCEIU,UNESCO, World Bank, HURIGHTS, Japan and serves as resource
person for Asia in general and South Asia in particular for training and
development of training packagesfor teachers. Dr. Panda is the member of several
official committees on education constituted by Govt. of India and different national
institutions. She is also editorial board member of International and National
journals.
Professor Rama Mathew
Dean of the Faculty of Education,
University of Delhi
Professor Rama Mathew is currently the Dean of the Faculty
of Education, Delhi University, Delhi. Previously she taught at
the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages,
Hyderabad where she was involved in English language
education with specific focus on language teacher education
and assessment for more than twenty years. She was Project Director of a national
curriculum evaluation study (1993-98) called the CBSE-ELT Curriculum
Implementation Study, which concretised the notion of teacher as researcher in
actual classroom contexts. She also coordinated a project on mentoring in
collaboration with the Open University, UK, under the UKIERI scheme. She is
presently coordinating the English Language Proficiency Course for the students of
Delhi University in which loose-leaf materials meant for adult learners have been
developed and students take proficiency tests at three levels that assess all the skills
of the language. She has been an invited plenary speaker at several conferences in
India and other countries including the conference of the International Association
of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL). Her current research
interests include teaching English to adult learners, teacher education, proficiency
assessment including online assessment.
Mr. ShailendraSigdel
Statistical Cluster Advisor, New Delhi
He has started career as an education statistician in 1995 from
the Ministry of Education in Nepal and worked with various
development agencies on education statistics, monitoring and
assessments. He worked with the World Bank, UNICEF, Danish
Development Agency (DANIDA), Save the Children and many
research institutions as a consultant and employee on education planning and
monitoring expert. He also worked as visiting fellow in Kathmandu University for
some time. Since 2009 he is working as Statistical Advisor for South Asia in UNESCO
Institute for Statistics (UIS) in New Delhi. UIS is a specialized agency of UNESCO on
statistics. His current role is to provide technical assistance to the member states on
statistics and evidence based monitoring on UNESCO minded areas- Education,
Culture, S&T and Communication and Information.
Professor Shyam B Menon
Vice Chancellor,
Dr B R Ambedkar University
ShyamMenon is a Professor at the Central Institute of
Education, University of Delhi. He had been Dean, Faculty of
Education, University of Delhi and Director, School of
Education, Indira Gandhi National Open University. He had also taught at the M.S.
University of Baroda for several years. Much of his work has been Curriculum
Studies, Higher Education and Teacher Education. Since August 2008, Professor
Menon is with the newly established Ambedkar University, Delhi as its Vice
Chancellor.