The elephant has begun to dance.

Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? This iconic book is an account of how a big lumbering elephant began to dance, this is the story of IBM's competitive and cultural transformation. 

In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the computer industry had changed so rapidly the company was on its way to losing $16 billion and IBM was on a watch list for extinction - victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.

Lou Gerstner who was brought in to run IBM surprised everyone by making key decisions to keep the company together, slash prices on his core product to keep the company competitive, and almost defiantly announced, "The last thing IBM needs right now is a vision.

"The Indian Education system had its own elephants, or rather elephant in the room.

Since far too long the schools have been vilified, and one must agree, at times rightly so. Being in a position of abundance of demand vs limited supply. Schools which represented to be institutions of trust and learning, instead slowly gravitated towards complacency and power rushes. Unless mandated, the change in the curriculum and pedagogy was non-existent. Teachers were mired in routine teaching, inspiration was rare. Students were going thru the motions. Overwhelming demand across cities and boards, ensured that no school ever had to pull up their socks, even the premium ones. The famed marketer David Ogilvy said “Encourage innovation. Change is our lifeblood, stagnation our death knell “& the death knell was nearby for the schools and especially for the children, where we were about to raise a whole generation of insipid learners, who found more gratification on the Gram, then an experiment in the Lab.

Schools had become the proverbial elephants in the room. New age companies promised to replace schools, some even mocked them. Education was going to be on the app, apparently and one could become an entrepreneur or even the next Steve Jobs with a small course on coding.

The aspirational class quickly moved up the school board hierarchies, from Semi English to SSC to ICSE / CBSE and now the latest being IB, all in search of a better education system. A system that allows the child to develop holistically and even more get a chance to tap into the new age learning modules of experimental and experiential learning. Slowly but surely the schools began to get themselves wrapped into threads of an existential threat.

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” -James Baldwin

Circa 2020 –

Faced with an unprecedented situation, where almost all schools had to shut down for more than a year, schools quickly adapted and in a remarkable show of character, the schools actually changed.

Lessons began online, exams also went online. LMS and other tools that were being nudged and accepted begrudgingly became the norm for communication and faster efficiency.

One other thing that got sparked was the awareness of having to make changes in the teaching style, pedagogy and overall outlook towards a more inclusive and holistic education learning experience. Having banged & broken our heads across several walls of school management, the change in awareness was not only refreshing, but brought in new hope. The elephant was beginning to dance.

Schools from far and near, even remote areas, were seeking change. They wanted to bring something new, the interest for programs like FLITE (https://futurelearning.irobokid.com/s/pages/flite) was across the board. We got some “ Cool Running “ on our program https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cool-running-just-took-flite-kaushal-chheda/There was a push to encourage creativity and tinkering. STEM made a comeback, this time the right way. With actual learning and more substance and less gas. The Government’s gentle “ nudge “ towards NEP where it promoted actual DIY Learning and new programs like IOT and AI, could not have been timed better.It had already made a giant step with ATL and AIM, all initiative with a great outcome in mind. The push in NEP, will ensure that there is a forced awareness to new age programs that will foster learning actively, more focus on creativity and innovation and also “ Hands on – Mind on “ learning.

Schools have made a comeback, they are much more then just institutes of learning and trust. They are hallowed grounds where we learn from one of the most underappreciate class of professionals.

Professional’s who can and will shape the mind of our next generation. Schools are where long lasting relations and memories are made, both which help us shape our future, especially when we can’t use what we learnt in school.

Schools & the teachers, when empowered with the right tools, can move quickly into an higher orbit, the tools of technology and new pedagogy can help surmount the problems of high demand and a skewed teacher to student ratio. Don’t count the schools out or count them out at your own risk.

“It isn’t a question of whether elephants can prevail over ants. It’s a question of whether a particular elephant can dance. If it can, the ants must leave the dance floor.” ― Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?

More info here

https://aim.gov.in/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/curiosity-cat-what-got-back-kaushal-chheda/