TIL Desk Lucknow:
The two-day educational meet ‘Leadership Circle 5’ took off to a grand start at the World Unity Convention Centre, City Montessori School, Kanpur Road . The programme was inaugurated by lighting the Lamp of Learning by the Chief Guest Minister of State (Independent Charge), Basic Education, Government of UP, Sandeep Singh. In his inaugural address Mr. Singh stated that education today needs to become a powerful tool to bring about positive change is society to spread the light of learning among all humanity. Schools must adopt new teaching pedagogies like the ALfA (Accelerated Learning for All) pedagogy and the PATH way of learning, making education purposeful, active, transformative and holistic. He was full of praise for the educational leadership provided by the Founder of DEVI Sansthan, Dr Sunita Gandhi and her revered mother, Dr Bharti Gandhi, the Chief Mentor of the programme and Founder of the world’s largest City Montessori School.
Guest of Honour, Dr Dinesh Sharma, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, (Uttar Pradesh) said that Foundational Literacy and Numeracy skills can vastly be improved through ALfA teaching methods. He said that age-old teaching methods cannot fulfil the aspirations of the present century. The present generation has to be empowered to solve their own problems and lead the world towards a new era of accomplishment, progress and discovery. Scientific thinking must go hand in hand with development of art and culture, imaginative and bold initiatives and innovation in every field of knowledge. At the same time, education must be value-based, child-friendly and humanistic in approach.
Earlier, Nixon Joseph, Group Executive, DEVI Sansthan welcomed the distinguished guests and participants which numbered around 2000 from 14 states of India. Dr Sunita Gandhi, Founder and CEO of DEVI Sansthan and Convenor of Leadership Circle 5, set the tone of the day by calling upon the youth to come forward and contribute to making India the foremost nation in terms of education and enlightenment. She welcomed the Chief Guest and Guests of Honour as well as all the distinguished government officials for sparing their valuable time and assemble on a common global platform to discuss significant issues regarding government educational policies and new strategies for making education a real instrument of profound social transformation.
Panel discussions took place on various issues related to educational pedagogy government partnerships and policies.This was followed by ALfA Hands on Clap and Snap Activity much enjoyed by all and a live demonstration of ALfA in Classroom. This was a Government School live demonstration on stage. The highlight of the programme was an Ed Tech Launch of India’s first AI powered Hindi Literacy Chatbox. Special Guest Prof. Indrani Bhaduri, CEO& Head PARAKH, Head Educational Survey Division, NCERT, Ministry of Education enlightened the audience with her thought-provoking ideas and encouraging words. Partha Sarthi Sen Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary, U.P., graced the occasion and expressed his profound thoughts, stating that education alone makes man superior to other beings and that innovation and experimentation in education must be encouraged. The ALfA Classroom was presented in a very creative way demonstrating how children easily learn in paired groups from one another with teachers as galvanizers. Hands-on Activities were carried out showing how fast children learn from materials easily available at home and in the classroom.
Dr. Sunita Gandhi, Convenor of the programme informed that panel discussions will continue tomorrow and will conclude with an Honouring ceremony to be held at 4.00pm. at CMS Kanpur Road auditorium.
