How can Mentoring Support Education Leaders in Overcoming Challenges Regularly?

Mentoring is one such solution to meet the present-day needs of education leaders. It will enable them to develop specific skills to meet the vision of the National Education Policy 2020 and navigate professional challenges. These stumbling blocks may span from effectively implementing new curricular frameworks and integrating technology in the classroom to addressing diverse student needs, nurturing inclusive learning environments, enhancing pedagogical practices, and achieving career goals.

If mentoring is enabled in the Indian education ecosystem, education leaders can benefit significantly in several ways. Mentors can provide personalised guidance and feedback. They can also offer insights and strategies for addressing diverse student needs. Mentors can assist education leaders in setting and achieving goals for a more target oriented approach.

Legacy of Mentorship Across Generations

Mentoring is not a new concept. It has been there for decades. For example, Thomas Edison mentored Henry Ford, leading to significant innovations in the automotive industry. The great Indian teacher and philosopher Chanakya mentored Chandragupta Maurya, guiding him to establish the Maurya Empire. Our former President and Indian scientist Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam credited his mentor Dr. Vikram Sarabhai for his guidance in his early career at ISRO. The acclaimed Indian boxer Mary Kom was mentored by M. Narjit Singh and later by Charles Atkinson. And the rest is history.

Mentoring carries timeless value, and these examples demonstrate its significant impact across different fields and eras. The same approach could be utilised to initiate a cycle of continuous learning and improvement for our education leaders which would drastically bring innovations in the education system. This will make our public schools the best schools in the country, all students will be able to access quality education and thrive.

This is a five-part blog series on mentoring. Discover more about the transformative role of mentoring in unlocking individual potential in the previous piece. In the following blog, read about how the National Mission for Mentoring aims to transform the Indian education system.

Meet the Author

Nancy Nikita Samad

Since her childhood, Nancy has been an inquisitive person. Her inquisitiveness drove her to pursue non-traditional career paths and become the person she always envisioned. In places where she doesn't understand the language, she tries to observe the environment and understand the culture. Life stories immensely interest her. She values cultural knowledge and verbal history. Currently, she works as an Associate - Communications at ShikshaLokam under the Ecosystem Development Team. In the past, she has worked with Lal Sakhi, on running social media campaigns. While working with CORO India, her approach to analyzing situations transformed into a multidimensional lens.

Simmi Puri

Simmi is founder of an Edtech startup and has global experience in product design and innovation. At Shikshalokam, she was instrumental in developing Mentor capability, enabling its adoption in the domain of 'Beyond Education'. She was awarded SKOCH Product Award for designing solutions to foster inclusion. She forayed into social-tech to deliver scalable solutions for sustainable impact. Simmi promotes Stem for Girls and has evangelised initiatives like 'Girls Who Code' and 'Digital Equalizer'. Diverse domains and experiences excite her; she is always curious to tread new paths. She believes life is a journey curated by connecting the nodes - each node opens new possibilities.