Knowledge
KidZania adopts the model of direct learning by “doing”.
We spoke to Global Director of Education at KidZania, Dr Ger Graus, and member of the KidZania global think tank, Dr Swati Popat Vats, about the global edutainment brand’s role in inspiring and empowering children.
Several years ago, when Shah Rukh was at a Dubai shopping mall with his family, his kids apparently couldn’t get enough of one particular indoor theme park – the KidZania centre. It wasn’t long before their curious daddy, who self-admittedly loves cherishing his inner child, was hooked as well. Cut to 2013, and India’s first KidZania was launched, backed partly by Bollywood’s King Khan. The KidZania chain, combining fun with learning and reality with entertainment, was growing…
For those still in the dark about KidZania, it provides an authentic and powerful developmental experience, preparing kids to understand and manage their world. Through adult professions and hands-on exposure to the working world, children learn the fundamentals of financial literacy and how society functions. The KidZania philosophy – ‘Get ready for a better world’ summarises its commitment to promoting change, inspiring global citizenship and building strong community awareness among children through an experience that is hands-on, engaging, educational, and most importantly, fun.
Providing an authentic and powerful developmental experience, it prepares kids to understand and manage their world. The KidZania edutainment perspective revolves around: Fun: make visitors enjoy their leisure time, Education: encourage kids to learn, and Socialisation: contribute to social improvement through the activities and make kids feel part of a community that can make the world a better place. By offering a powerful developmental experience in which reality and entertainment intersect, KidZania empowers children with life skills that help them understand and manage the world they are growing into.
Operating at 24 locations worldwide, KidZania adopts the model of direct learning by "doing". Knowledge results from the combinations of taking and transforming the experience. Every KidZania is themed as a child-sized replica of a real city, including buildings, shops and theatres, as well as vehicles and pedestrians moving along its streets. In this city, children aged 4 through 14, work in branded activities, earn kidZos (KidZania's currency) while performing the tasks, and bank the money at the KidZania bank for children to spend at the gift shop and on KidZania's activities. So much more than children could ever learn in a standard classroom!
ScooNews turned the focus on Dr Ger Graus, OBE and Global Director of Education, KidZania, and Dr Swati Popat Vats, member of the KidZania global think tank for deeper insights into the role of KidZania in inspiring and empowering all children…
“We have become educationally very credible”
Dr Ger Graus
As the first Global Director of Education at KidZania since 2017, what has been the focus of work and growth?
The focus of my work since 2017 has been quite straightforward really; it’s been on quality, on changing perception – that it’s a meaningless playground but it’s really educational and learning, and it has been moving people away from thinking that content and education are the same thing or that indeed schooling and education are the same thing. One of the key things has been to raise the profile, to increase the credibility and to actually work with the profession, work with the schools, to make provisions better and to allow children of a younger age to join the dots.
How would you explain the success story of KidZania?
The method KidZania provides, if that is the right word, in terms of inspiring and empowering children, has been immensely powerful. If we look at the education world we occupy now, it is predominantly about schooling, prescribed curricula, testing and inspections. Whilst that might be suitable from a schooling perspective and accountability in terms of the learning and wider education agenda, it means it’s narrowed. So, where can you find and leave children independently learning in a city about the world of work, the economy, about inspiration and aspiration, about applying the science, so to speak, of what’s been taught in school in practice… of turning theory into practice, of making up their own minds, of forming opinions and expressing those and feeling rewarded, and experiencing a sense of achievement rather than a sense of attainment? That has been a global success and that kind of linked with the mantra of Reggio Emilia, that the environment is the third teacher, and that in KidZania, grown-ups are there to be seen and not heard, makes this very powerful and very successful. And we need to strive to become even better at this.
Since its inception in 1999 in Mexico City, KidZania now has a presence in 24 cities on 5 continents with plans for further developments in some 20 locations including the USA, Canada and South Africa. What would you attribute its graph to?
The success graph since 1999 and growth, in a sense, has to do with the fact that success breeds success. That we have become educationally very credible, that we are doing our own research, we have our own publications, I speak at conferences all over the world, we have a global think tank which of course includes the eminent Dr Swati Popat Vats, and in that sense, you could attribute all of that to it. But also, and perhaps slightly perversely, is that the more education systems, schooling systems become prescriptive and removed from reality, the more the true educators and the good teachers begin to see that learning environments matter and that independent, experience-based learning needs to be put at the forefront and we have become a very significant part of that. I’m very proud to be associated with that and work with organisations all over the world to make this happen and to strive for a better future’s awareness amongst children.
At KidZania, children aged 4 to 14 experience the world of work through role-play. How effective has this method been in inspiring and empowering children?
Our plans to further promote inspiration/ aspiration in children around the world are manifold. There is the obvious growth but there is also the issue of working in partnership with industry partners, with other learning partners, with NGOs, with governments, of course with schools and universities, to in a socially responsible way so that we move away from the notion of sponsorship in some shape or form to notions in terms of social and corporate responsibility in a meaningful, long-term way, for the benefit of the children. One of the biggest challenges Kidzania faces, is it says very clearly in our intentions, values and principles that we are there for all children. We have to strive, with all of our partners, to make that real. So, when for example Archbishop Desmond Tutu said to me in 2017, “Promise me that children from Soweto will be able to go to Kidzania Johannesberg, I of course, said yes. And we are working very hard at making that happen. And when I look at the work done in Mumbai, for instance, where we had tens of thousands of the poorest children being able to attend Kidzania Mumbai because of a partnership with the Municipality and other partners, we are getting there. We’ll never give up, we’ll never be quite there – but we’ll get close. That is our biggest challenge.
What plans does KidZania have to further promote inspiration and aspiration in children around the world?
Quality education for underprivileged children is a cause that will always be close to my heart. And actually it has, in essence, less to do with identifying segments of young people – it has much more to do with fairness. Our world is grossly unfair and educationally it is unfair – you either can afford things or you can’t, you can afford to send children to a private school where they learn English or they have to go to a state school where they are not taught English. That’s the scenario in a number of countries. My question then is, how can we strive to create a better level playing field? KidZania could, by running English summer camps or English days in those countries and contribute to that. It is about creating a fairer society and all children have the right not just to an education but have the right to a quality education, quality teaching, quality resources, and quality experiences. Perhaps we should collectively – and I would very happily do that with your excellent magazine – come up with a campaign that says, what do we think are the entitlements of an 11-year-old? What are the experiences every 11-year-old in the world should have? Going into a theatre, going out for a meal, in the broadest possible sense as well as of course of being schooled and experience that outside. It is singularly the most important thing we can do educationally is to create more of a level playing field. I will always be part of that, I’m very proud to say that KidZania is trying very hard to play its part too and I would welcome anybody else to join us in that, because I think nobody can do that on their own; everybody is a piece of a jigsaw, but the more pieces of the jigsaw we have, the better we can view the bigger picture.
Given your extensive experience in education, could you share a few key learnings when it comes to children’s education.
I think my first advice is: keep it simple. We as grown-ups have a habit of over-complicating things. Put the individual child in the middle and work the education provision from there. The schooling provision that we have had is based on a time, in a sense, that is no longer relevant. It goes back to the Industrial Revolution – we have six weeks’ summer holidays because all children needed to help their parents harvest in the fields. So we need to begin to think about an individualised provision that suits the needs of today and tomorrow. And clearly if you look at the number of young entrepreneurs that exist, that number is greater than ever before, whereas the mass education for certain professions and industries is less relevant. So, we need to put the child in the middle and we need to focus on the needs of that child to function in the society of now and in the society to be.
I would also say that we need to be very careful that we don’t continue in the same mode as we have done. We need to ask ourselves the question who the teachers are, we have to ask ourselves the question in the educational provision rather than schooling, what role teachers play. Teachers can’t be the founts of all knowledge. Teachers need to be able to encourage children to research their own work, to judge which ones are the correct answers, and facilitate the expertise of others. Don’t talk to children about becoming a doctor or a brick-layer – invite the brick-layer and the doctor into the school so that it all makes more sense to the children. So, the teachers, to a significant degree, become the facilitators of experiences that lead to children’s learning and get children to see why it all makes sense, and actually answers the ‘why’ questions. Clearly we need to look at a skills-based education – that doesn’t mean, incidentally, that we drop standards – but a sense of purpose, the sense of the inter-personal, of being able to adapt, to be resilient and all those things will matter more as we go on and our schooling system is further and further removed from the reality that is and the reality that will be required.
“Play is how all species learn about life and living”
Dr Swati Popat Vats
As a member of KidZania global think tank could you share more details about your new role?
Well, as the name suggests, my role is to be involved in and support KidZania’s ongoing research on how play helps children and supports all round development. As a part of the think tank I can involve KidZania in various initiatives to ensure that their work reaches maximum children and parents and to also advise them about their activities as an educationist. My role is also to ensure that parents understand the importance of play in the cognitive and socio-emotional development of children. And being an educationist, my role is also to ensure that all activities are developmentally appropriate.
You have always been a proponent of play-based learning. Can you explain how KidZania makes this a reality?
Play is how all species learn about life and living. In humans too play plays an important role in stimulating brain development and keeping the brain interested. The ultimate goal of all humans is to have a career, be it in fashion, engineering, production or design and KidZania combines both these goals beautifully to help children of all ages explore, play, design, deliberate, create interests and solve problems. Social development, creative development, language, and logic are all involved in all the activities at KidZania and there can be no better example of learning for life through play. I feel all teachers and parents should look at KidZania not just as a place where children play but also as a place that helps children learn while playing. Every school should have the concept of KidZania as it is ageless and works as the perfect stimulation for brain development.
How does KidZania enhance learning for children of various age groups?
That is one of the best parts of KidZania; there is something for every age group in every activity. Children also learn peer or shared play that is an important aspect of all educational approaches. When learning is presented as ‘academic rigor’ all the time in classrooms then children go through something called ‘play deprivation’. Some experts argue that ‘play deprivation’ can lead to depression and hostility in children. After all, if you never had a break, you might get depressed, too! But the most important aspect for all age groups is ‘self-learning’. At KidZania children are leading their play and when children lead their play they are more responsible, more involved and focused. This is actually a fun place for life skill development for all ages.
Scott Eberle, historian of play New York feels that most people go through a six-step process as they play
— Anticipation, This leads to…
— Surprise, This produces …
— Pleasure, Next we have…
— Understanding, the acquisition of new knowledge, leading to …
— Strength, the mastery that comes from constructive experience and understanding, this results in…
— Poise, grace, contentment, composure, memory, understanding, and a sense of balance in life.
And all these steps are what children of all age groups experience when they are involved in the various activities at KidZania.
And the last and most important is the aspect of ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’ that children experience, its importance is across all age groups as the brain thrives on choice and here children can select which activity they want to try out first and they are free to explore on their own as adult intervention is only when asked for.
Your experience in education is vast. What important pointers could you share on children’s education?
1. The eye and the hand need each other! So, whenever children play, tinker, explore, experiment, this union of eye and hand is achieved and this stimulates the brain and learning with enjoyment. In our school education, we need to move from writing and copying from the blackboard to more activities that are hands-on and interactive.
2. Children don’t like to be ‘led’ all the time, that is why it is important that schools focus 70% on child-led activities and have only 30% of adult led activities.
3. Discipline has become a major concern in schools and even for parents at home because there is always a ‘power struggle’ between the children and adults, we need to give back some freedom to the children because with freedom will come responsibility. This will also make discipline intrinsic rather than extrinsic.
4. Parents and teachers complain about children not being focused or not completing tasks, well, I would say scrap such activities because if children were actively involved (like they are in video games!) then focus and completion of tasks is not difficult. So, look at the problem in the activity or task and not always in the child.
5. Inquiry-based learning, play way, hands-on learning, project-based learning, flipped classroom, multiple intelligences, STEM, AI etc. all have one thing common, they understand how the brain functions and are geared towards keeping the eye, hand, and brain involved in a fun way. Schools must focus on keeping the trinity involved all the time and then there will be no behaviour issues, no lazy student, no attention issues and every child will be ‘intelligent’…this trinity that needs to be there in all activities is of the – brain, the muscles, and the senses. Senseless writing, copying, and other academic rigor activities lack this trinity and that is why the problems in school education.
Someone rightly said that when enough people raise play to the status it deserves in our lives, we would find the world a smarter place for kids.
The Ministry of Education’s latest Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) 2024–25 report offers an important snapshot of India’s school education. The numbers reveal progress across teachers, enrolments, infrastructure, and gender representation. But as with any large-scale dataset, the fuller story emerges when these achievements are held against persistent challenges on the ground.
Key Improvements Highlighted in the Report
Teachers and Student Ratios
For the first time, India has crossed the one crore mark in the number of teachers. From 94.8 lakh in 2022–23 to over 1.01 crore in 2024–25, the increase represents a 6.7% rise within two years. The Pupil-Teacher Ratio (PTR) too has improved sharply, now standing at 10 for the foundational stage, 13 at the preparatory level, 17 in middle school, and 21 in secondary. All of these are comfortably better than NEP 2020’s recommendation of 30:1, suggesting children now have more access to individual attention.
Dropouts and Retention
Dropout rates have fallen across the board. At the preparatory stage, they are down to 2.3%; in middle school to 3.5%; and in secondary to 8.2%. Retention, meanwhile, has climbed, with 92.4% of students staying on through the preparatory stage, 82.8% at middle, and 47.2% at secondary—supported by the increase in schools offering higher grades.
Transition and Enrolment
More children are continuing their education without breaks. Transition from foundational to preparatory is up to 98.6%, and from middle to secondary to 86.6%. Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) has also risen, with secondary education seeing an uptick from 66.5% to 68.5%.
Infrastructure Growth
Infrastructure remains a bright spot. Over 93% of schools now have electricity, 99% provide safe drinking water, and 97% are equipped with girls’ toilets. Computer access has grown to 64.7%, internet access to 63.5%, and more than half of schools now have ramps and handrails, improving accessibility.
Gender Representation
Representation of women in teaching has crossed 54%, and girls’ enrolment has edged up to 48.3%, showing slow but steady progress towards gender parity.
Where the Numbers Need Context
While the report reflects genuine gains, the full picture requires a closer look at what these numbers mean in practice.
Teachers: Quantity vs Quality
Crossing the one-crore milestone is historic. Yet reports continue to highlight shortages in subject specialists and concerns about teacher training. A strong student-teacher ratio is valuable only if classrooms are led by well-prepared, motivated educators.
Dropouts: Regional Gaps Persist
The steady fall in dropout rates is promising, but averages mask uneven realities. States like Bihar still struggle with alarming dropout figures, particularly among girls and marginalised communities. National averages hide state-level realities.
Access Without Schools
It is encouraging to see single-teacher and zero-enrolment schools on the decline. However, the deeper problem isn’t just these schools but the absence of schools altogether in thousands of villages. Maharashtra alone has over 8,000 villages without schools. That’s not a statistic you’ll find in the UDISE+ summary, but it matters when we talk about access.
Digital Infrastructure: From Presence to Practice
Computer and internet access are on the rise, yet, other surveys suggest that many of these facilities remain underused, serving as placeholders for inspections rather than as tools for learning. Less than a quarter of India’s 1.47 million schools have smart classrooms. Digital literacy among students and teachers is patchy at best. So while infrastructure is expanding, its integration into actual pedagogy lags far behind.
Inclusion: Beyond Ramps
Ramps and handrails are a welcome start, but inclusion for children with disabilities requires much more. How many schools have accessible toilets, special educators, or learning aids for children with disabilities? And the bigger question: how many children with disabilities are actually enrolled and attending school regularly? Current data rarely tells us this.
Gender: Representation Without Leadership
Girls’ enrolment is up slightly to 48.3%. Female teachers now account for 54.2% of the workforce. Encouraging signs, yes. But leadership remains a male stronghold. Across higher education, only about 9.5% of institutions in India are led by women. At the school level too, women remain underrepresented in principal and leadership roles. Representation in classrooms is improving; representation in decision-making is not.
Reading the Report Holistically
The UDISE+ 2024–25 findings point to a system that is steadily improving access, retention, and infrastructure. But progress cannot be measured in isolation. Numbers must be matched with quality, access must be inclusive, and representation must extend to leadership. A fuller picture of Indian education comes not from rose-tinted fragments but from an honest balance of achievements and unfinished work.
When we think of school learning, the first things that come to mind are math equations, science experiments, history timelines, and grammar rules. But education isn’t only about academic skills—it’s also about preparing students for life. This is where Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) steps in, transforming classrooms into spaces that nurture not just minds, but hearts.
What is Social-Emotional Learning?
Social-Emotional Learning is the process through which students acquire and apply skills to:
- Understand and manage emotions
- Build healthy relationships
- Show empathy for others
- Make responsible decisions
- Set and achieve positive goals
In simpler terms, SEL is about helping students become self-aware, emotionally intelligent, and socially responsible.
Why Should SEL Be Part of the Curriculum?
For decades, education focused on the “3 Rs” – reading, writing, and arithmetic. Today, we know that EQ (Emotional Quotient) can be just as important as IQ. Studies show that integrating SEL into the curriculum leads to:
- Improved academic performance
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- Fewer behavioural issues
- Stronger peer relationships
- Better conflict-resolution skills
A student who learns how to manage frustration or work well in a team is more likely to thrive both inside and outside the classroom.
How SEL Fits into Different Subjects
- Language and Literature – Discussing characters’ feelings in a story builds empathy and perspective-taking.
- Science – Group experiments encourage collaboration and respectful communication.
- Mathematics – Problem-solving in pairs or teams fosters patience and perseverance.
- Social Studies – Exploring diverse cultures promotes acceptance and respect.
Practical Ways to Embed SEL into Curriculum
- Morning check-ins: A quick emotional “temperature check” helps teachers understand students’ moods.
- Role-play activities: Encourage students to act out scenarios that require empathy or problem-solving.
- Collaborative projects: Promote teamwork, negotiation, and leadership skills.
- Mindfulness breaks: Simple breathing exercises can improve focus and emotional balance.
When SEL is woven into lesson plans, we move from an education system that simply imparts knowledge to one that shapes compassionate, resilient, and adaptable individuals. In a world that is constantly changing, these life skills are not optional—they are essential.
Final Sum-Up
Social-Emotional Learning doesn’t replace academic learning; it enriches it. By combining books with empathy, logic with kindness, and grades with grit, we can prepare students not just for exams, but for life.
This article is authored by-
Ranjith P C, Head- Curriculum Excellence, TVS Education
Education is the wellspring of civilization. It begets arts, culture, sciences, and polity to create a society oriented towards discovery and development. Through the ages, education has evolved to meet the needs of the times, and presently, it has reached an inflection point. The inexorable advancement of technology, abundance of information, pressing societal challenges and climate crisis have compelled educators to re-imagine education for the 21st century.
With the rapid prevalence of generative artificial intelligence, the question rightly being asked is: “What should we teach children when almost all answers can be readily had from AI?” The education of tomorrow would reward critical thinking over knowledge. That is what our focus and onus as educators should be. Children, being the digital natives, are more inclined to leverage the full potential of technology. It is up to us to help them realize and understand that AI should augment – not replace – HI (human intelligence). To think critically, to understand, to create and innovate should always be the preserve of humans. The ‘human-first, tech forward’ approach should become the cornerstone of education, going ahead.
An equal focus has to be on building skills, values and attitudes to address the most pressing problems of the world today. The World Economic Forum’s Education 4.0 framework underscores the importance of nurturing global citizenship, environmental stewardship, growth mindset, adaptability, civic responsibility, socio-emotional awareness, empathy, and kindness. The challenge is to find ways to model these into learners’ personality, traits and behaviours.
Re-designing curricula, taking learning beyond classrooms, and reforming assessments could be the answer. Marks and grades can only be one of the benchmarks of learning. Time has come for us to consider skill-based and value-based assessments to reflect a learner’s competence and character. Here, the National Education Policy 2020 – with its progressive vision – can be the guiding compass to steer us towards a more holistic and value-driven paradigm of learning. Institutions should also harness technology to create personalized learning pathways to meet the unique needs of each student.
None of this transformation would be possible without more empowered and enlightened teachers. Progressive institutions are already taking a lead in continuous professional development of their teachers and staff. On their part, teachers will have to be open to unlearn and relearn, upskill and reskill to stay abreast of the new pedagogies and technology. They should be adept in delivering personalized learning using data-driven insights and adapt to the new role of facilitators in an ecosystem where student agency is growing increasingly assertive. Schools must actively engage with parents and students to help them understand the need to look beyond grades. Parents must be informed of the changing jobs market and the importance of building durable skills.
Reforms and initiatives are also required at the policy level to attract private capital into an education landscape where private schools are outnumbered by government schools but cater to about half of the total 24.8 crore school-going student population. The potential of public-private partnerships should also be explored to elevate the quality of education in government schools. Digital infrastructure across the nation has to be strengthened to make learning accessible to the last child in the remotest of places. Creation and dissemination of multi-lingual content will enhance inclusivity of learning in the new Bharat.
Today, the education fraternity, governments, and parents need to collaborate to facilitate this transition into Education 4.0. We need to re-envision education as a human development endeavor to create a sustainable future wherein prosperity goes hand-in-hand with people and the planet. Right intentions need to be followed with earnest action. The future will be India’s to claim.
This article is authored by-
Shishir Jaipuria, Chairman, Seth Anandram Jaipuria Group of Educational Institutions
Within the conversation of future-ready education, empathy has moved from being characterized as a “soft” individual characteristic to being identified as an essential social and cognitive ability. Frameworks such as the OECD Learning Compass 2030, UNESCO’s Global Citizenship Education, and the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report put empathy at the forefront of skills required to succeed in an uncertain, interdependent world.
From Emotion to Competence
Empathy is confused with sympathy, yet they are essentially different. Empathy is an active, cognitive, and affective process, the capacity to grasp another’s emotional situation, comprehend it in context, and react creatively. Neuroscientific research, for example, by Decety and Jackson (2004), illustrates that empathy engages both the limbic system, which controls emotional resonance, and the prefrontal cortex, which controls perspective-taking and rational reaction. Briefly put, empathy does not just mean “feeling with someone”, it means thinking with feeling, where intellect and emotion unite to shape behaviour and decision-making.
Early Childhood (Ages 3–6) – Seeds of Empathy
At the age of three to six years, children in early childhood start showing the beginning signs of empathy by what is termed as “emotional contagion” by psychologists. They tend to cry when others cry or smile when others smile due to the observed emotional state. By the time they are four or five years old, according to research conducted by Zahn-Waxler et al. (1992), children start showing other-oriented concern like sharing, comforting, or embracing a fellow child who looks distressed. Empathy at this age is still primarily affect-based; children sympathize with others but possess little ability to grasp intricate frames of mind. Teachers can cultivate these early roots of empathy through narrative, role-playing, and guided social-emotional education that offer the vocabulary and structure to make sense of emotions.
Middle Childhood (Ages 7–12) – Perspective-Taking Develops
By middle childhood, around ages seven to twelve, empathy is increasingly cognitively complex. They start to understand that people might think and feel differently from themselves, an ability outlined in Selman’s stages of perspective-taking. Peer relationships are increasingly important at this stage, and children increasingly become sensitive to fairness, belonging, and group membership. According to research by Eisenberg et al. (2010), this is a critical window for the instruction of moral reasoning in addition to empathy. Cooperative learning activities, peer mediation programs, and community service offer children meaningful opportunities for empathy extension from intimate friendships to include strangers and even members of out-groups.
Adolescence (Ages 13–18) – Abstract and Global Empathy
An important stage in the development of empathy is adolescence, which lasts from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. Adolescents gain the ability to relate to abstract ideas such as global emergencies, injustice, and inequality. According to Blakemore’s (2018) neuroimaging research, adolescent brain regions involved in identity formation and social cognition are more active. However, hormonal changes and heightened self-awareness are also hallmarks of adolescence, which makes young people more reflective. Schools can assist in this area by offering intentional opportunities for teenagers to develop empathy, such as discussion forums that foster critical thinking, service-learning initiatives that are linked to current events, and cross-cultural interactions that extend their horizons. Adolescents can use these activities to channel their growing empathy into constructive civic engagement.
Young Adulthood (18+) – Empathy as Leadership Skill
Empathy matures during late adolescence and young adulthood as a skill that is intricately linked with emotional control, leadership, and ethical choice. Now, it transcends interpersonal interaction to become the hallmark of effective leadership. More employers are realizing this; a 2022 LinkedIn survey indicated that 78 percent of employers view emotional intelligence as equally or even more important than technical skills. Universities and workplaces increasingly require such competencies, and schools can prepare young adults through leadership programs, mentorship positions, and reflective practices that instil empathy in civic and professional life.
Beyond Awareness to Application
While awareness of empathy is valuable, its real utility comes from practice. Schools need to inculcate empathy not only in coursework but in lived experience. Narrative immersion in literature, film, and even virtual reality allows students to step into other people’s shoes. Structured ethical discussions in dialogic classrooms offer the space for respectful disagreement and deeper understanding. Cross-age mentorship, where older students mentor younger ones, develops a sense of responsibility while strengthening bonds across age. Service-learning, when paired with structured reflection, develops empathy into action. Even cutting-edge tools that offer emotional analytics while working in a team can assist students in self-evaluating and managing their emotions, turning empathy into a mindful and deliberate process instead of an automatic reaction.
The 21st-Century Payoff
The dividend of developing empathy in education is significant. In a world of artificial intelligence, empathy is one differentiator that makes us uniquely human. The World Economic Forum (2025) identifies emotional intelligence, empathy, and collaboration as among the future workforce’s top ten skills. Students who can read emotional team dynamics, negotiate across cultures, and build authentic relationships are not just more hireable but indeed invaluable in a fast-paced professional landscape.
Empathy is not a mushy virtue but a developmental skill that develops systematically throughout childhood and adolescence. Schools that deliberately foster it are not just creating smarter students; they are raising wiser, kinder citizens who can lead with compassion and resilience. Empathy is a moral and practical necessity for 21st-century education, the bridge that unites emotional intelligence and the needs of an interconnected world.
(This article is authored by Dr. Silpi Sahoo, Chairperson, SAI International Education Group)
In a world where algorithms power everything from our social media feeds to self-driving cars, it’s no surprise that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming one of the oldest pillars of education—math learning in the classroom. Once confined to textbooks and chalkboards, math instruction is now getting a high-tech upgrade, ushering in a new era of personalised, engaging, and data-driven learning.
Cracking the Code: Why Math Needs a Makeover?
Let’s face the fact that many students see math as abstract, intimidating, or just plain boring. Traditional classroom approaches often take a one-size-fits-all route, leaving behind both the struggling learner and the gifted problem-solver. This is where AI steps in, not to replace the teacher, but to empower them with tools that adapt to each student’s pace, gaps, and style.
Enter AI: The Digital Math Mentor
Imagine a classroom where a student struggling with fractions gets instant, visual explanations tailored to their exact misunderstanding. At the same time, another who excels in geometry is offered advanced challenges to stretch their thinking. AI platforms are doing just that. They use real-time data to analyse student responses, detect patterns of error, and provide feedback that feels like one-on-one tutoring.
Far from replacing educators, AI acts as a powerful teaching assistant. Teachers can use AI dashboards to spot who needs extra help, where the class is lagging, or what concepts need reteaching without spending hours on manual assessments. This frees up more time for creativity, collaboration, and real-life math applications that bring numbers to life.
AI also allows classrooms to become more inclusive and equitable. Language barriers? AI can offer multilingual support. Visual learners? Dynamic simulations and interactive tools adapt seamlessly. Students with special needs? Personalized pacing ensures no one falls through the cracks.
What’s Next? The Future of Math + AI
As AI grows more sophisticated, so does its potential in math classrooms. Think AI-generated practice problems based on local news, gamified learning paths that turn algebra into an adventure, or virtual tutors available 24/7 for homework help.
But with great power comes great responsibility. Educators, parents, and developers must ensure that AI tools remain ethical, transparent, and supportive, not controlling or biased.
Math education is no longer just about memorising formulas or solving problems on paper. In the AI-powered classroom, it’s about curiosity, connection, and confidence. With the right blend of technology and teaching, we’re not just raising better mathematicians but combining critical thinking with the subject for a world powered by data and driven by ideas.
This article is authored by-
Ranjith P C, Head Curriculum Excellence, TVS Education
What happens when self-worth becomes a scrolling statistic? When confidence is measured in likes, validation is sought in comments, and a missed post feels like a missed opportunity, social media quietly becomes more than a platform; it becomes a mirror that distorts.
For the younger generation, the digital world isn’t an escape. It’s their reality. What once was a space for fun and connection now silently dictates their self-image, decisions, and even mental health. A carefully crafted caption, the right filter, or a viral reel can spark joy, but it can also fuel anxiety, insecurity, and constant comparison.
As engaging as social media is, it comes with an invisible cost. The pressure to be constantly available, consistently appealing, and endlessly relevant can take a toll. Many teenagers find themselves trapped in a loop of approval-seeking, often mistaking online popularity for personal worth.
Online peer pressure has evolved from being subtle to strategic. Likes are currency, stories are reputation, and every post is performance. Combine that with cyberbullying, misinformation, and the relentless pace of content, and you’ve got a digital space that’s as overwhelming as it is addictive.
Yet, knowing how to use social platforms doesn’t mean knowing how to handle them. Digital literacy has surged, but digital emotional intelligence still needs nurturing.
Recognising the urgency of this shift, Nirvaan Birla, Founder of Birla Open Minds, shared, “We see it every day. The impact social media is having on the younger generation’s mental and emotional wellbeing is significant. That is why at Birla Open Minds, we have initiated sessions like ‘Likes vs. Life’ across our schools. These sessions are designed to help learners reflect on their relationship with social media, how it affects their confidence, their focus, and their sense of self. Our larger vision is to shape not just academically strong individuals but also emotionally resilient ones who can navigate the digital world with awareness and responsibility.”
The idea isn’t to villainize social media. It’s to humanize its users. What the younger generation needs most isn’t just digital access, but digital awareness. The ability to pause. To question. To ask: Is this who I really am, or just who I’m trying to be online. Because beyond the reels, hashtags, and likes lies something far more important: life. And that should never be lived for an algorithm.
Here’s the thing about privilege: most of us don’t even realise how it shapes our choices, our comfort zones and the opportunities we chase
I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, but it hit me harder during a recent conversation with a college student. One of the factors they had in mind while choosing their higher education institution was that most of the students there came from similar economic backgrounds. They felt uneasy at the thought of being in a space where others might be less privileged than them. And just like that, it became clear: even the discomfort of being around inequality is, in itself, a kind of privilege.
Here’s the thing: privilege wears many faces. Money, yes. But also caste. Gender. Language. Skin tone. Disability. Geography. And then there’s what Gen Z calls “pretty privilege”—the unspoken perks of fitting society’s standards of attractiveness. These aren’t abstract ideas. They play out every day—in who gets picked, who gets heard, who gets help without asking.
This isn’t about guilt. Guilt gets us nowhere. Awareness, though? That’s powerful. Students should be taught to recognise the invisible lifts they get. It’s not just that some kids have better shoes—it’s that they’ve never had to worry about having shoes. It’s not just about who studies in English-medium schools—it’s about who gets praised for speaking English at all.
Privilege doesn’t cancel out hard work. It explains the head start. And when students understand that, they become better humans. They stop seeing success as a solo act and start acknowledging the small privileges they enjoy. These can be supportive families, access to tutors, clean water, a safe route to school. Things so normal for some, they fade into the background. Afterall, acknowledgment is the first step to building empathy.
So where do schools come in? Right at the heart of it. Not with token assemblies or once-a-year poster competitions, but with consistent conversations. Through stories, books, theatre, debates—whatever gets them to look up from their own experience and into someone else’s. Not to feel bad, but to build perspective. And maybe, just maybe, to use their privilege to lift someone else.
This isn’t about shaming anyone or turning life into a comparison game. It’s about empathy and responsibility. When students know they benefit from privilege, they can harness it to help others. They can mentor younger kids, fundraise for resources, or simply speak up when they see inequality in the classroom.
This isn’t a curriculum change. It’s a mindset shift. It’s the difference between raising achievers and raising citizens. If we teach kids to see both their own comfort and the struggles of others, we’ll nurture a generation that doesn’t just accept their advantages but shares them too.
If we want an education system that prepares students for the real world, then recognising privilege isn’t a side-topic. It’s foundational.
(This article is authored by Dhruv Chhabra, Lead-Content and Design at ScooNews and reflects the author’s personal beliefs and lived observations as an education journalist and storyteller. It is written with the hope that classrooms can become kinder, more aware spaces.)
India is on the verge of a major overhaul in how it governs higher education, with the government aiming to replace the University Grants Commission (UGC), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) with the proposed Higher Education Commission of India (HECI). The move, aligned with the National Education Policy 2020, seeks to create a more efficient, autonomous, and accountable regulatory system.
Why Replace UGC, AICTE & NCTE?
The current structure—with multiple agencies overseeing different sectors—has long faced criticism for being fragmented and bureaucratic. Overlaps in jurisdiction, slow decision-making, and limited autonomy for institutions have prompted calls for reform. Committees like the Yash Pal and National Knowledge Commission have recommended a unified regulator to reduce red tape and improve coordination.
What HECI Will Look Like
According to the draft and Lok Sabha updates by Education Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar, HECI will have four independent verticals:
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Regulation (NHERC) – compliance and governance
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Accreditation (NAC) – quality assurance
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Grants (HEGC) – performance-based funding
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Academic Standards (GEC) – curriculum and learning outcomes
This “light but tight” approach aims to foster innovation and autonomy while maintaining integrity and transparency.
Potential Benefits
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Streamlined oversight: Instead of navigating multiple authorities, institutions will liaise with one regulator.
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Better resource allocation: Integrated funding vertical offers performance incentives, echoing models in the UK and Australia.
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Unified standards: Accreditation and curriculum will be uniform, reducing interstate disparities.
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Global alignment: Can enhance India’s appeal with international quality frameworks.
Risks & Concerns
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Centralisation: Experts warn that vesting extensive power in one body may over-centralise control, risking academic freedom.
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Loss of specialised oversight: Domain experts from UGC, AICTE, and NCTE may be diluted.
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Bureaucratic inertia: Transition could bring its own delays and resistance from existing bodies.
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Compliance complexity: Institutions may face confusion adapting to new norms and vertical structures.
Global Inspiration & Way Forward
Many countries offer models worth emulating: the UK’s Office for Students (OfS), Australia’s TEQSA, and the US’s accreditation agencies show that one-regulator systems can work—if they strike a balance between oversight and autonomy. The NEP framework supports this, but success hinges on a smooth transition, capacity building, and safeguarding academic freedom.
In short, HECI is more than an institutional reshuffle. It has the potential to redefine Indian higher education—if implemented thoughtfully. The challenge now lies in building consensus, streamlining regulatory roles, and ensuring this new body empowers institutions, not constrains them.
This news has been sourced from various media outlets, with parts of it written and contextualised by the ScooNews editorial team.
In a sobering update shared in the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Education, Sukanta Majumdar, revealed that student suicides constituted 7.6% of all suicide cases reported in India in 2022. While marginally lower than the figures in 2021 (8.0%) and 2020 (8.2%), the data underlines an ongoing mental health crisis among the nation’s youth.
The statistics were drawn from the Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India (ADSI) report published by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), as per the minister’s written response in Parliament.
Recognising the urgency of the matter, the Centre has ramped up efforts to address student mental health through a multi-pronged strategy. This includes psychological support not only for students but also for educators and families, aiming to create a more holistic safety net within the education system.
As reported by The Indian Express, Minister Majumdar highlighted the Ministry of Education’s Manodarpan initiative, which has reached lakhs of students across India through tele-counselling, webinars, and live interactions. Parallel efforts under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s District Mental Health Programme (DMHP) now cover 767 districts, offering suicide prevention services and life skills training in schools and colleges.
Adding to this, the University Grants Commission (UGC) has issued advisories to higher education institutions urging them to prioritise student welfare, fitness, and emotional well-being. Institutions like IIT Madras, IIT Delhi, and IIT Guwahati have started conducting resilience-building and stress management workshops under the Malaviya Mission Teacher Training Programme.
Addressing addiction among youth, the Centre has also intensified anti-drug campaigns to accompany its mental health outreach.
Separately, the Ministry of Education is in the process of drafting legislation to establish the Higher Education Commission of India (HECI), aiming to unify regulation under a single authority. The new body will replace existing agencies like the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE, aligning with the NEP 2020 vision of a “light but tight” governance framework that promotes autonomy, innovation, and accountability.
We often talk about how AI is transforming education, but are we talking enough about what it’s quietly taking away?
CREATIVITY
As Sir Ken Robinson often reminded us,“Creativity is as important as literacy.”
And yet, in a system so focused on marks, rubrics, and outcomes,creativity is often the first thing we sacrifice.
Bloom’s Taxonomy places Creating right at the top,but in many classrooms today, it feels like AI has reached that level faster than our students have.While children are still figuring out sentence structure and grammar, AI is already generating poems, paintings, and polished presentations with a single click.
Which brings us to a deeply uncomfortable question:
What happens when AI starts to “create”?
And more importantly—what happens when our students stop?
Today’s AI isn’t truly creative.It mimics. It reuses. It draws from patterns and reproduces what’s already been done.And if we don’t pause now to protect what’s uniquely human,we risk raising a generation of students who know how to use tools,but don’t know how to think.
Everything’s Starting to Look the Same
I’ve seen it. You’ve probably seen it too.
Creative writing tasks that sound strangely uniform.Artwork that feels formulaic.Presentations that are polished, yes, but empty.AI has democratised access to intelligence,but in doing so, it has started to flatten creativity.We’re now at a point where students are outsourcing not just answers,but imagination.
But true creativity cannot be prompted.It’s messy. It’s emotional. It’s born out of thinking, feeling, failing, and trying again. It lives in how we interpret the world. In how we care. In how we connect.
How Can We Bring Creativity Back?
We need to bring back the building blocks of creativity.
READ
Let students read more deeply,not just skim or summarise.Let them feel what’s in the pages, get lost in ideas, debate their favourite character in a book or movie, and form their own emotional connections.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Let’s re-focus on learning through doing,projects, fieldwork, play, nature, making mistakes, working with hands, collaborating, and reflecting.It’s in these non-linear, real-world experiences that creativity quietly blooms.
FINDING THE PURPOSE
We need to pause and ask: What is this child truly passionate about?
It could be animals, gardening, football, art—anything that sparks joy and curiosity.
Once we discover that passion, we can connect learning to it.
Let’s not just ask what they’re reading, but why they’re reading it.
What inspires them? How can that interest help them solve real-world problems?
That’s when learning becomes meaningful,and creativity starts to flow with purpose.
Because by the time they grow up,the world won’t just need people who can use AI – It will need people who can imagine what AI cannot.
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