Which are the organisations that are working to create awareness and disseminate information, amongst not just educationists and policy makers, but also employees working in the education sector, consumers of education as well as the public at large, on the issues and challenges that we need to confront and address to ensure we provide a quality education for all Indians?
The focus of this post is on organisations that are active in education journalism, communication and outreach like magazines with a focus on covering the Education Sector in India and organisations and think tanks researching education in the Indian context and disseminating information widely. I have not included organisations that are doing other very important things like running educational institutions, training teachers, providing services to institutions or other functional activities.
Here is a list in alphabetical order. This list is by no means comprehensive - I am sure there are many more organisations that I am unaware of. If you happen to know of any others, please do mention it in the comments.
Magazines covering the education sector in India
- EDU - a magazine launched in 2009 and published by 9.9 Media. Here's how they describe themselves.
[EDU is] a platform that helps decision makers at higher education institutions govern their institutions smartly. With its strong connections and a nationwide reach, EDU creates a channel for enterprises to develop business opportunities in the education sector. We are currently a growing community of 5000 decision makers across engineering, management and medical institutions, with the purpose of connecting leaders and decision makers in higher education in order to raise the level of debate in India. The content mix of the magazine includes sections such as Strategy, Academics, Administration, Technology, Profile, Updates from the sector and columns by well known academicians and visionaries.
- Education World - a magazine launched in 1999 and published by DT Media & Entertainment Pvt.Ltd. Here's how they describe themselves.
[Education World was] promoted with objective of informing the growing middle-class on the subject of education through its content, which it will disseminate through all means/channels of communication, viz Press, TV, Radio and the Internet. [Our mission is] to build the pressure of public opinion to make education the No.1 item on the national agenda. The promoters of this company genuinely share the sentiment expressed by a former US President (Lyndon Johnson): “The answer for all our national problems comes in a single word. The word is education.”
- Mentor - a magazine launched in 2008 and published by EduMedia. Here's how they describe themselves.
Mentor is India’s first print magazine that is focussed on the school principal and educators, it is the new voice for education in India. Mentor is a platform for principals, school heads, teachers, educators, society leaders and government to come together, voice their opinion, share and learn from one another, thereby bringing a positive change in the educational system.
- Teacher Plus - a magazine launched in 1989. Here's how they describe themselves.
Teacher Plus is a magazine aimed primarily at the schoolteacher. It is a forum within which teachers can raise their concerns, discuss ideas, and share and update their knowledge. Teacher Plus discusses alternative ways of thinking and doing within the context of the Indian classroom, while recognizing the constraints that most teachers face, day to day. In addition, its aim is to foster a sense of community among teachers, of being a part of an important group of change agents.
Teacher Plus is not a scholarly journal. It is a magazine for the practicing teacher who wants to keep up with trends in education and find ways to energise her classroom with new ideas and approaches.
Other organisations and Think Tanks with a focus on promoting and disseminating information on education in India
- Apeejay Stya Education Research Foundation (ASERF) set up by the Apeejay Stya Group. Here's how they describe their objectives.
- Serve as a "think-tank" to deliberate on all aspects of school, higher and professional education;
- Undertake, aid, promote and coordinate research in areas related to school and higher education;
- Work as a support mechanism for policy formulation, review and analysis;
- Link policymakers, key administrators, and the research community in a creative dialogue on the central issues facing contemporary education;
- Address pertinent issues and challenges facing education (internal and external) and to propagate measures needed for meeting these challenges; and
- Offer fellowships, scholarships and academic awards.
- Azim Premji Foundation (APF) - set up in 2001 by Azim Premji to address the challenges we face in educating all Indians, children in particular. Here's how they describe themselves.
VISION - To facilitate a just, equitable, humane and sustainable society
ENABLERS - Work in education and related development areas for both direct impact and a large positive multiplier
STRATEGY - “Operating Organization” for deep, at-scale and institutionalized impact on the quality of education in India - Centre for Civil Society (CCS) - set up in 1997 is a liberal think tank and education is one of its focus areas. Here's how they describe their focus on education.
VISION: To create an education system in India where all children receive quality education of their choice.
MISSION:
- To make policymakers aware of the power of incentives to reform that education system
- To create awareness and generate public debate about how education is funded in India
- To demonstrate the power of choice by running pilot projects show casing education vouchers
- To encourage entrepreneurship in education especially in its provision to the poor by advocating regulatory reform and the use of micro credit
- To advocate the use of independent evaluation using international comparable standardized tests to assess the performance of government and private schools in India
CCS's flagship project, the School Choice Campaign (SCC) was launched in 2007 and is a campaign to bring about the much-needed reforms in the system of school education in India today using the three pronged approach of Education Vouchers, Regulatory Reforms and Encouraging Edupreneurs. - Education Promotion Society of India - set up in 2005 with a very broad scope and objective of promoting expanding and developing the education sector in India. They describe their vision, objectives and activities on their site. Their focus seems to be more on the higher education sector rather than the school education sector.
- Pratham - set up in 1994, with an exclusive focus on school education. They put out the influential Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) every year. Here's how they describe themselves.
All our programs are designed to ensure that:
- Enrollment in schools increases.
- Learning in schools and communities increases.
- The education net reaches children who are unable to attend school.
- Models are replicated and scaled up to serve large numbers of children to achieve a large scale impact.
