BEYOND GRADES IN ACADEMICS

The purpose of education is to help accommodate all learners in the teaching-learning process and create a flourishing human being out of them. To ensure that they excel academically is one part, but the other significant part of nurturing is to develop in them empathy and compassion. This broad understanding of education demands a lot of efforts for schools to provide them with an opportunity to collaborate, participate in community development programmes, to create a glocal outlook, and to build a big-picture approach to problems are just a few of them. It is not surprising that the best colleges and Universities across the world focus on these experiences while admitting international students. The most preferred organisations to work for, also look for the candidates imbued with these characteristics, while recruiting.

Schools must take the lead in promoting global skills and competencies. Inspiration should come from developing a global perspective to build International exchange programmes. Active participation in global issues, add significant value to students' experiences. Interaction with the best faculties from the renowned universities, summer immersions, internships, engagement with the international organisations such as UN, British Council, Goethe Institute, Cultural centres of member countries, MoU with the best Universities promotes exceptional qualities essential for the new age learners and the future leaders of the world.

A very significant addition to the resources in developing empathy and compassion building is the whole-school integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the curriculum. Working around these 17 goals has the potential to sensitise the students and the teachers alike. The world today inhabits over 7 billion people across continents. The connectivity is far more superior and real-time. It requires and pushes people to think of the globe as one entity and not as a disjointed set of nationalities. Developing global competencies; learning an additional foreign language, familiarising with the diverse geographies, history and economies of the world is paramount through carving active and reflective global citizenship. Educators, parents and the students, therefore, need to realign their purpose of encouraging character building and problem-solving through small yet meaningful acts of global citizenship.