EducationToday conducted the 9th National Conference on K-12 leadership & India School Merit Awards on the 11th & 12th of March, 2022 at the Chancery Pavilion Hotel, Bangalore. The conference hosted a massive gathering of consultants, principals, educators and stake holders all under one roof from across the country, to participate in some insightful discussions and brainstorming sessions. The award show witnessed some of the top schools from various categories being awarded and felicitated.The conference went on with some extremely insightful panel discussions where we witnessed some eminent personalities from the education fraternity share their thoughts on crucial topics pertaining to the current situation in the education sector.The final panel discussion of the conference was on the topic ‘Closure of budget private schools - Where does the future of education lie?’ The discussion was chaired by Ms. Seema Saini – CEO of N. L. Dalmia Educational Society. The other panelists were Shri D Shashikumar - General Secretary of Associated Managements of Private Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), Ms. Hamsa Venugopal - Managing Director & Trustee of New Baldwin Group of Institutions, and Dr. Mrs. B Gayethri Devi – Principal of Little Flower Public School, Bangalore.With regard to the effects of the pandemic on the education scenario in India, students from low-income households enrolled in non-elite private schools and teachers employed by these schools have suffered the most. While some private schools shifted to online learning and have managed to stay afloat, others have been forced to shut down. While we don’t have credible data on school closures in India as yet, preliminary indicators from one state have suggested that over 3000 low-fee private schools have shut down in the last one year. This becomes a crucial topic of discussions, and our panelists indeed served as an eye opener to the audience as they shared their insights on the topic.

Watch the video to know about what the panelists had to say about the topic!