International Women’s Day: India meet Khushboo Awasthi in ‘Mission’ to change 1 million government schools in India. Mint

International Women’s Day: India’s public education system cannot be decided overnight, but Khushboo Awasthi, co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Shikshlokam, who works on the education leadership development mission, says that small, incremental changes are required to achieve tangible goals.

Shikshalokam works with School education department In various states and central government institutions, school reforms and leadership development programs are designed.

Fragrance is also co-founder of mantra4change, changes in a non-profit driving systemic public schools Indian education systemHe is a member of the Working Committee of National Mentoring Mission National council,

In conversation on mint International Women’s Day, Khusbo, with more than 15+ years of experience in the education sector, Khusbo talked about how to bring a ‘public movement’ together to bring various stakeholders together demanding to replace India’s forest million public schools.

Mint was caught with Khusbo, a education leadership dialogue, an education leadership dialogue, Shikhalokam Bengaluru On 7-8 March. Here are the excerpts edited from the interview:

How did the idea of ​​Sikhlokam come to you?

I am an engineer from Bihar. On working Wipro And Honeywell Many years ago, I realized that whatever I could do was due to my education. Me and then my friend and now husband (Santosh) realized that we should do something for education. Therefore, in 2013, we started mantra4change, a non-profit driving system Public school change In the Indian Education System. The whole idea is how to ensure that the children of the marginalized sections of the society get a good education.

Then in 2017, we started working with the government. We thought of expanding our work in a movement in 1 million public schools in the country. We introduced a non -profit -non -profit working on the Education Leadership Development Mission. The idea was to provide a general technology forum Ministry of Education Through a program called Diksha – ‘National Digital infrastructure for teachers.’

You talk about Nishgrah. Tell us about it?

Working with various partners with various relevant knowledge, we considered solving the problem by developing an ecosystem. Currently we are working with about 150 organizations in 20 states associated with Shikhalokam. And last year, we decided to launch which we call a public movement – ‘Chicagraha’. We thought that when we could get Satyagraha for the freedom movement, then why not an education for a movement in education.

‘Nishagha’ is not just a platform. It is not a registered organization. It is a collective of the organization that wants to provide a rich environment for co-construction of the need-based solutions to become reality.

Any organization can work with this collective. The unique aspect is that earlier we used to work only with government organizations. But today there are small ground level organizations like Self -help group Those who have joined us.

How does Nishgrah work?

It is like a ladder in which you take one step at once. Each organization is unique and works in its own way. If I were Shikhalokam, my team would work with the government in Delhi (Center). For example, in Rajasthan, Mantra4change and Piramal Foundation works in states like program designing.

Our aim is to tap the strength of various organizations and officials working in different regions of the country. Today, we are working in 20 states including Meghalaya, Nagaland, Jammu and KashmirA partner like Eduview works in childhood. Then eventually, we find funds that are ready to cooperate for the working collective.

Originally, we are unlocking three things – taking advantage of government participation, technology and funding. Tribal districtSS Bombay, Odisha, is funding Axis Bank in Bombay.

How have things changed on the ground?

Ever since we started working with the government, this idea has to change the subtle stages. We will see changes throughout the night. There is an idea of ​​working through micro reforms. Today if you look at the Dixit dashboard, about 1 million micro reforms have been recorded from 20 states.

For example, Javier Chandra Kumar, a school leader, led the overall change of Vallar Sarkar’s Higher Secondary School, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, He helped in dealing with the problem of drugs in the school. If these microscopic reforms increase, it means that schools are improving.

Four years ago, we realized that when we were working, we need to focus on leadership. While we were working with the partners and the government, we found that the leadership was not paid any attention. We started the ‘call’ in 2021 whether we can catalyze dialogue on the importance of leadership and leadership. Today’s call has developed into a place where global partners are coming and participating in exchange for ideas.

Government of India Education secretary (Sanjay Kumar), Education Secretary of six states is here for this two -day program. The idea is how all these stakeholders – government, NGOs and philanthropy organizations work together.