by anouradha bakshi | Jun 20, 2026 | Anou's Blog
As I write these words, lacs of students from across India and even outside are writing their NEET retest! The retest was ordered as numerous leaks of question papers were discovered after the initial exam. Paper leaks are not new. They have been happening for years with impunity. Often instigated by the coaching industry who would go to any level to ensure their students pass the said examination.
In the past few weeks, there have been many articles about the state of our education each one more horrifying than the other. There is only one common denominator :nobody really cares about children! Education has been in the news for more reason than one. First and foremost this year marks a sea change as new books have been introduced in line with the NEP (New Education Policy 2020) and require the teaching fraternity to adopt new and challenging changes in their approach towards education. What was/is hoped is that education will transition from rote learning to comprehending and acquiring skills that relate to the XXIst century employment scenario. Laudable indeed but is it feasible in the present state of our education system.
New books I said! Well first of all the school year commenced on April 1st but many books are still not available. In Odisha books are filled with aberrations and have, hold your breath, 1678 errors! Sample some: Sir Isaac Newton is described as the greatest pilot, a photo of the Karnataka Assembly was identified as the Odisha assembly, the Hampi temple was labelled as the Konark Sun Temple. Temperature is labelled as pressure. Equinox is replaced by Equator!!
Class VII books have the most errors: 705.
As always a high level committee has been formed to look inti the matter. Wonder what they will say?
So much for books.
Now let us look at the ground situation of schools across the land. The Niti Ayog Repor, titled ‘School Education System in India — Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement’, highlights the ‘pyramid’ problem.
The education system currently resembles a sharp pyramid, housing 14.71 lakh schools and 24.69 crore students. The drop our rates are still very high. While the country boasts of 7.3 lakh primary schools, that number plummets to 1.64 lakh at the higher secondary level. Four out of every 10 children who enter the system drop out before completing higher secondary education. only 5.4% of schools offer a continuous journey from Grade 1 to 12. For the vast majority of students, moving up through the grades requires changing institutions multiple times. Girls are the first to drop out as high schools are often located far from their homes and parents are reluctant to send their daughters alone.
To add to this, close to 7,993 schools across the country reported zero enrolment. While these schools appear operational in administrative records, they no longer serve any student population. These schools, despite zero enrolment, continue to receive financial and human resources due to the lack of updating of records, showing the difference between on-ground reality and planning, Many schools do not have water facility or electricity. You may wish to read the article.
The reason I share all these facts is twofold. One is to highlight the sate of schools, and the other to show that implementation of the NEP looks like a long way happening.The new education policy wants to teach AI from class III. My simple questions is: are the 7.3 lac primary schools and their teachers ready to do it?
Children are our future and education that meets the challenges of today is the only way out. It is sad to see the way students are treated. Because of paper leaks lacs of students have to study again for their exam resulting in unnecessary stress and mental distress. Six students committed suicide. Recently a new form of marking in class XII resulted in students wanting heir papers rechecked. The problem was that they would miss some admissions schedules. But who cares.
We do at Project Why.
We have begun computer skills and English from class I ! The children are also introduced to AI but are also taught to use AI responsibly by making them aware of the amounts of water and electricity the ginormous data centres use. We teach our children to think out of the box and be creative. We teach them critical thinking and communication in order to maker them ready for the job market that awaits them.
by anouradha bakshi | Jun 3, 2026 | Whats new
Empowering young minds with knowledge, confidence, and life skills.
Through our collaboration with Modicare Foundation, children and adolescents participated in engaging sessions on life skills, good & bad touch awareness, growing up and adolescence, self-esteem building, physical & mental health, and gender equality.
Together, we are creating safe spaces where young people can learn, grow, and thrive.
We are very grateful to the Modi Foundation for having conducted workshops on issues faced by children and adolescents in every centre for many years now.
The workshops are interactive, entertaining and loved by the children
by anouradha bakshi | May 21, 2026 | Whats new
For the past years summer holidays have been the bane of the Project Why teaching team. Children went to the village and came back having forgotten everything. This was happening constantly year after year.
This. year the team decided to address the situation and find a solution. They would make worksheets for all subjects and give them to the children to do. Then they would connect on WhatsApp to solve issues if and when needed. So the last few weeks worksheets were being made in every centre and neatly packed for the children to carry. Parents were also apprised of the same and requested to see that their child did the sheets each day and to share their smartphone with their child so that she can connect with her teachers when needed.
This is a new experiment and we are all very excited and waiting with bated breath for the outcome!
Happy holidays!
by anouradha bakshi | May 21, 2026 | Anou's Blog, Uncategorized
I have been trying to write this post for some days now. Each time I decide to do so, another article appears in the press and compels me to change my approach.
OK let us put this in context.
Over the past weeks there have been a plethora of news articles on education. Based on the New Education Policy the CBSE has release its syllabus for 2026-27. For those of you who have been reading my blogs, you know how much I have been harping about how useless and unproductive the education system was in today’s world and how it needed to be turned on its head to incorporate the skills our children will be needing to navigate the employment scenario that awaits them and how we at Project Why have begun incorporating these skills in our teaching approach. So when my eyes fell on the title of an article that read: Rote to reasoning: How CBSE is resetting the way students think, learn and grow I was pleasantly surprised and decided to delve further into the changes that one expected. But before I could do so, another article appeared entitled Papa don’t preach: CBSE’s parenting guide raises concerns about overreach I fell of my chair and felt the need to address it immediately.
Before we delve further into the subject let me share my take on all policy changes specially in education. Think tanks with eminent personalities sit around a table and conjure wonderful policies that look perfect on paper and reflect all the desires of the ruling dispensation. Then these are translated into curricula that would be implemented across the country. Now for some statistics; There are 1.5 million schools in India catering to 280 million children and employing teachers 9.8 million teachers. So whatever policy conjured has to be implemented 1.5 million schools. This sets the scale of things we are addressing. This is what I wanted to discuss in this blog till I read the article mentioned.
But first the reason why I fell off my chair and one more statistic. If there 280 million children in school and we take an average of our kids by family we re talking of 70 million families.
As if is changing curriculum was not enough the CBSE decided to enter our homes! As is said in the article The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has quietly taken on a new role, not just educating children, but guiding how parents raise them too. Through its recent parenting guidelines and outreach, the board is stepping beyond the classroom into homes, nudging families on everything from screen time to emotional well-being. Remember we are talking of 280 million children. The 60 page framework looks like a playbook for parenting. Parenting is no longer private but drawn into the institutional framework of schooling. This is disturbing and discomforting.
It defines what parenting should look like: Bedtime rituals, mealtimes, stories, songs are not extras… They are the primary curriculum of early childhood.” People are uncomfortable with the tone that does not feel like a suggestion but an instruction. Parenting is not one size fits all. How does a mother of let us say 3 school going children living in a tiny hovel and working the whole day set bedtime rituals – often there are no beds or one shared by many – mealtimes, tell stories etc. She often has to deal with a drunk husband who puts on the TV loud and blaring and if she says something would probably be beaten back and blue. The article goes on to say Parenting has never been seen as a standardised activity in India. It is shaped by culture, class, language, family structures, and lived realities. What works in a dual-income urban household may not necessarily work in a small-town joint family. And yet, this calendar reads like there is a single, ideal way to raise a child… one that can be documented, scheduled, and rolled out across schools. This is nothing short of concerning.
The parenting guidelines given seem to be more for middle class urban literate families but our 70 million families are not that. I wonder if anyone who drafted this has even visited a slum dwelling let alone spent one night there. I for one resent anyone telling me how to bring up my child and yes though I understand the need to talk about mental health and the effect of screens it can only be gentle. We at Project Why have a Parent Project Partnership that runs well without diktats.
by anouradha bakshi | Apr 10, 2026 | Uncategorized, Whats new
Keerthana is 9 year old. She lives in Narapanenipalle, a small village in Telangana. Once there were 70 children in this upper primary school. But slowly with time passing the rural education scene has changed as parents migrate towards urban centres or shift their children to English speaking convent schools. It is a true crisis. Today in Telengana over 2200 schools have zero or near zero enrolment. But in Narapanenipalle, the story is different. Keerthana is the only student in the whole school. Her father stood firm in his decision to keep her enrolled fearing that once a village school closes, the community loses a vital pillar that may never be restored.
This school is a beacon of light. I has kept its door open for this little class IV girl so that this girl maintains her right to education. Every morning the bells ring, and Uma her teacher comes everyday and follows the curriculum in the same was as any school would. “Every child is entitled to an education,” a district official noted, “and as long as Keerthana is enrolled, our doors remain open.”
The story of this school shows the shift in the education scene in India.Parents are now more aware and tighten their belts till it hurts to send their children to an English Medium school often a convent. It is time our law makers look at education in a proper manner keeping in mind the rapidly changing scenarios of employment opportunities. It reinforces the idea that education is not a commodity to be discarded when the numbers don’t add up, but a fundamental right that must be protected at all costs and necessary changes need to be made in the state run schools to lure back parents.
But kudos to this little school who gives true meaning to the words: no child should be left behind.
