Gurugram, India: On April 7, 2018, IILM University organized a Principal’s Meet to create a forum to discuss approaches of school governance and changing roles of schools. IILM played host to several senior industry stalwarts, principals and senior educators representing various schools across India. On the day, Dr. Kamal Singh (Executive Director- United Nations Global Compact) announced the IILM Young Citizen Award for Innovation and Social Impact which will be given by IILM in collaboration with UN Global Compact. The key objective of the award is to create a pool of socially impactful innovative ideas that can be further developed to commercially viable solutions to address the socio-economic problems of India by encouraging young school children to engage with ideas of citizenship and commitment to civic values.
The keynote speaker of the event, Mr. Raj Nehru (Vice-Chancellor, Haryana Vishwakarma Skills University) set the tone of the meet by discussing important issues related to the changing the role of schools and their approaches to governance. In the second keynote address, Dr. Maina Singh (Scholar-in-Residence, American University, Washington DC, and Director Teaching and Learning at IILM) shared her views on the contemporary trends in liberal education and how schools need to gear up their students to be ready for the future. Two panel discussions were held thereafter. The first panel comprising of Mr. S.L Jain (Senior Educator and Director Mahavir Model Senior School); Ms. Rachna Pandit (DPS Rishikesh); Dr. Namita Ranganathan (Dean-Central Institute of Education); Col Kr Pratap Singh (Chairman, Haryana Progressive School Council); and Dr. Sandhya Prakash (Professor, IILM) had discussions around how governance is a very critical aspect of Indian education system. The second panel discussion was on the changing role of schools, given the various uncertainties, technological advancements, changing role of a teacher from instructor to a facilitator, increasing expectations of parents and the changing profile of students. The deliberations were done by Dr. Jitender Nagpal (MD, DNB, Sr. Psychiatrist Institute of Mental Health and Life Skills Promotion, Moolchand Medcity & Program Director, Expressions India); Mr. Rajdeep Sahrawat (Head of Global Business-Tata Consultancy Services); Major General (Dr.) Sunil Chandra (MD, Army Welfare Education Society); Ms. Rima Singh (Principal, DPS International Gurugram); and Ms. Aditi Misra (Delhi Public School, Sector 45, Gurugram).
