Meeta Sengupta is a Senior Advisor, Center for Civil Society. She has been the founder of the Centre for Education Strategy, a Delhi based think tank that builds bridges between policy and practice for educators, educationists and Institutions. She is the member of the FICCI Skills Development Forum. Meeta also is the founder of #EduIn, an online discussion that brings hundreds of participants together every month, in an organized discussion on key education issues. We talk to Meeta about her career, education in India, MOOCs and more-
Tell us more about yourself and what you do.
I read, write and share. Learning is an act of sharing, and I am a compulsive learner. I work in education - as an advisor, consultant, writer, speaker and changemaker - institutional intervention design is where my heart lies. I am also a mother - multiple roles make up my identity, as they make up my day. A strong supporter of flexiwork and flexilearning I advocate learning beyond boundaries for all. Much of my work centres around writing about creating learning and certification opportunities outside traditional structures. In order to make education more inclusive and more effective we need to gently pry open the old boxed ways of doing things, show everyone how it can be done differently, maybe even demonstrate it in practice and prove that it works. This is what I try to do in my work and life.
What was idea behind founding center of education strategy?
To me it is utterly ridiculous that there is no strategy layer in the planning of a nation's education. I am trained in business and in education. I cannot fathom how anything can get achieved unless you have a plan, a strategy to implement. A policy is a guideline - from here you cannot jump to rule making directly unless you are sure it aligns with the strategy - which means resources, objective, governance mechanisms etc. A strategy is nothing but 'joined-up-thinking' for a specific set of goals that can lead to aligned action plans. I do believe that every country and institution needs an education strategy so that all the suppliers, users, participants know how to invest and align with each other. This project has been around for almost four years, and even if the language is slightly different, I think it has had some impact on planning, designing and monitoring education.
According to you, was the DU’s decision to go back to the three year plan justified?
While I support a four year undergraduate program at DU, this particular one was half done. I do wish a well designed four year plan could have been announced at the outset - but there was too much pushback for many critical components. What got implemented was a patchwork which needed time to succeed. In education we risk a lot when we intervene or change a design because it impacts real lives - which is why I strongly and passionately believe in gentle change. The ideal solution would have been to strengthen the FYUP, the pragmatic one was to scrap it because the way it stood it could not prove its value. FYUP, done well, would show its value in a decade or more. I do hope they try again, build diversity within and outside our university systems. It takes work, but then at least as students we get more than mere factory type processing.
What is your take on the MOOCs? Do you think they are going far?
MOOCs have been a boon to those deprived of international perspectives and standards of education. The fact that they cost little if you have access to electricity, a computer and a net connection improves global equity in education dramatically. Suddenly faculty in sleepy universities realised that they were being measured against the world's best, textbooks came alive with discussions amongst global peers in learning. It broke barriers in ways that were unthinkable - age, prior learning etc. did not matter. The challenge was that a free model could not sustain itself indefinitely. MOOCs are changing in character as we get evidence about what works, what does not, where can value be encashed, what should always be free and more. MOOCs are here to stay, but they will have multiple avatars.
Message to all SHEROES out there.
Take on any challenge that makes your eyes shine and heart sing. Choose happiness and share it with all you meet. It is tough sometimes, and the moments of joy and achievement are superb but fleeting. Enjoy the roller coaster ride and always celebrate every win. Give, give a lot, but don't throw it away. Give more than you take - it comes back a hundredfold.