This is the second of three episodes that we are devoting to education in India. As we had said in the introduction to the first of this series (#123), with 1.4 billion people, 27% of whom are under 15, India has significant educational needs. Its multilingual, multi-ethnic culture throw in further challenges. Scale, complexity and diversity — it is all here.

Today we will meet with representatives of two organizations focusing on student centered learning. Sandhya Gupta at Aavishkaar Foundation and Eshwar Bandi with Inqui-Lab Foundation.

Transforming math and science education for students and teachers is an important advance for all countries to achieve. STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) knowledge and skills are best acquired through various forms of active, experiential learning rather than passive assimilation. Exciting models for accomplishing this goal are in place in India. The Aavishkaar initiative, led by Sandhya Gupta, builds students’ and teachers’ engagement, achievement, and confidence in research and development through math & science camps as well as training workshops. The Inqui-Lab Foundation, co-founded by Eshwar Bandi, provides both Think & Make in-person programs and online School Innovation Challenges that are very effective in helping children and youth to innovate for problems around them and in supporting them in acting on their ideas. The episode will describe ways that parts of these transformational models can generalize to other settings across the world. More info on our guests below the video.