Education has evolved beyond classrooms and textbooks into a dynamic conversation about preparing students for a rapidly changing world. This vision of future-ready learning took centre stage at ‘Shaping Minds, Shaping Futures’, an Educators’ Conclave by Shiv Nadar University (SNU), Delhi-NCR, held at the Tollygunge Club on January 31. The day-long event brought together 76 of West Bengal’s most distinguished school principals and educators to discuss the changing landscape of education.
A curriculum that brings mind, body and soul together
Mukherjee stressed on the multi-disciplinary approach at SNU during her keynote address
The proceedings commenced with a keynote address by Ananya Mukherjee, vice-chancellor of SNU. Having spent two decades in two of Canada’s largest varsities, the University of British Columbia and York University, Mukherjee drew from her extensive global experience in academia to introduce SNU’s transformative approach to multidisciplinary learning. “We give our students a core curriculum across all disciplines. This not only creates different competencies, but also instils a collaborative approach to knowledge. Our curriculum also has a strong focus on holistic development, bringing mind, body and soul together,” she said.
Mukherjee reinforced this with visuals from the varsity’s lush green campus, spanning well over 250 acres: “Our campus is rich in biodiversity, exemplifying our belief that proximity to nature nurtures learning, an idea that is also prevalent in Bengal, thanks to the teachings of Rabindranath Tagore.”
SNU’s campus life and commitment to sustainability
The SNU team addressed a wide range of perspectives about their curriculum and campus life following Singh’s address
This was followed by an address by Rajeev Kumar Singh, the dean of international programmes and professor of computer science at SNU. As the chair of the admissions committee, Singh took the attendees through campus life at the university. “Despite the campus size, we maintain a faculty base of 250 for our 4,000 residential students, in order to uphold the highest quality in research. We are committed to our sustainability goals and have aggressively worked to attain them, leading us to be recognised as an institution of eminence,” he said.
Educators assembled at the event had several questions for SNU and its suitability for their students
SNU is the youngest university to receive the ‘Institution of Eminence’ title by the Union ministry of education. Singh also addressed the robustness of the programmes, which have led to a high acceptance rate for SNU students at foreign universities, especially at the PhD level.
‘The only humans that AI will replace are the ones who don’t use it’
(From left) Debaditya Chaudhury, Richa Dwivedi Saklani, Ramona Sen, Yashoroop Dey and Partha Chatterjee
The second half of the conclave comprised two compelling panel discussions. The first one was on “Higher Education for Gen Z & Gen Alpha: Needs and Wants”, featuring Chowman founder and Oudh 1590 co-founder, Debaditya Chaudhury; SNU founding faculty member, Partha Chatterjee; author and career guide, Richa Dwivedi Saklani; and public policy researcher, Yashoroop Dey. Ramona Sen, author and communications consultant, moderated the session.
Sen opened the floor by remarking how careers were changing faster than Instagram reels, and asked the panel how Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation could change higher education. “With increasing life expectancy, people will have longer careers, potentially in more than one field. Thus, education shouldn’t only focus on providing students with one skill,” observed Chatterjee. As a restaurateur, Chaudhury shared how most of his learnings had come on the job. “AI can’t match up to the human emotions that fuel creativity, making learning by experience fool-proof,” he said.
Dwivedi Saklani advocated for a middle path where people learnt to work with technology, rather than resist it. “The only humans that AI will replace are the ones who don’t use it. In fact, AI will help people explore new platforms and industries that weren’t available to them before!” Dey reflected upon his own college experience, adding that AI would help move away from archaic notions of education that were all-consuming. “The automation of processes will help free up more time. For the first time, generalists will have a level playing field with experts,” he said.
‘While administering academic rigour, we must also have a sensitive approach’
(From left) Sujata Sen, Shreevatsa Nevatia, Chandreyee Chatterjee, Aakanksha Agrawal and Priyanka Bhoopal Bhattacharyya
The second panel discussion took on the pivotal conversation around work-life balance with the topic “Youth and Mental Health: The Educators’ Role”. The panel comprised clinical psychologist Priyanka Bhoopal Bhattacharyya; Future Hope CEO Sujata Sen; journalist and author Shreevatsa Nevatia; and SEL educator and My Kolkata columnist Aakanksha Agrawal. The session was moderated by Chandreyee Chatterjee, content consultant and journalist.
Chatterjee began the session by emphasising the role of educators in identifying students who are struggling with mental health issues, and their role in creating safe spaces. When asked how a classroom can become a less daunting space, Agrawal remarked, “Providing students with agency to take charge of learning changes the messaging in a classroom. Before teaching a history lesson, if I ask a student to research the topic and come back with a fun fact, it can help the child, help the teacher.” Bhoopal Bhattacharyya also called for more focus on the teacher’s needs, adding that a teacher who didn’t feel centered wouldn’t be able to care for the emotional needs of the students.
Sen added that trust was the cornerstone for an inclusive classroom. “Children don’t want to be told what to do by an authority figure. They want to speak to someone they can trust. While administering academic rigour, we must also have a sensitive approach,” she said. Nevatia shared his own troubled classroom experiences as a child, contrasting the different approaches his school and college took to dealing with the matter. “When my class teacher found I was struggling, she made me the assistant monitor in the hopes that the added responsibility would help. But it only ended up pushing me deeper in my shell. While studying in the UK, when I shared my story with my college counsellor, he actually gave me a letter, requesting professors to understand my situation if I had trouble submitting an assignment.”
Banani Mukherjee represented St Joan’s School at the conclave
The themes discussed at the conclave struck a chord with the educators. “The event was an eye-opener for many of us, focusing not only on what the new education system should be, but also how we, as educators, need to assume different roles in teaching,” said Banani Mukherjee, English teacher at St Joan’s School. Rajashri Biswas, principal of Garden High School, added: “I loved the diversity [of ideas] at the event, with so many unique perspectives. Not only were the conversations informative, but also fun. SNU’s emphasis on academic research was heartening.”
