My Articles 

Every year, on 5 September, India celebrates Teachers’ Day in memory of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the former President of India who is widely remembered as a great teacher, philosopher and academic. This post, however, is not about Dr. Radhakrishnan. It is about the tens of thousands of teachers across the country who walk into classrooms every day, prepare lessons, read, research, assess, give feedback, attend meetings, respond to parents, manage adolescents, negotiate instituti

Long post alert. Blame my whiskey, it was too potent for a weekend! There is an interesting game being played in the booming educational market. Curricula have become brands, schools compete through claims of innovation, and pedagogical frameworks circulate rapidly through conferences, consultancy programmes, professional networks, books and social media. In this environment, adopting something new can itself become a sign of leadership. A new framework, lesson structure or

The recent controversy around Galgotias University, reported by outlets such as The Print and The Wire, is less about a robot dog and more about a national habit. The focus should not be on the machine, but on the mindset. We have perfected the art of appearing impressive. Somewhere along the way, the average Indian public imagination developed a restless hunger for declaration. We are world class before we are competent. We are global before we are grounded. We are innovativ

Recently, at an academic event where I was invited to give a talk, I seemed to have unsettled a few people. My offence was simple. I stated that anyone teaching English at the Diploma Programme level must hold a Bachelor’s degree in English, not just a convenient post-graduation picked up from an obscure university. Someone later told me that I had been impolite. That may be true. Yet my so-called impoliteness was deliberate, and I stand by it. English, more than any other su