Ratna Viswanathan transitioned from a distinguished career in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service to becoming a leading figure in the development sector. Her journey from a civil servant to the CEO of Reach To Teach is marked by a passion for education and a commitment to creating joyful learning experiences for children. In this interview, Viswanathan shares insights on her career shift, the importance of experiential learning, teacher agency, and the critical changes needed in the education system for holistic child development.
Excerpts from the interview:
What motivated you to leave your esteemed career in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service to join the development sector?
I actually stumbled into the Civil Services quite by accident. I had just finished my Masters in English Literature from Lucknow University and some of my friends thought it would be a fun thing to sit for the Prelims, which is the first level of screening for civil service aspirants. Strangely, I did qualify the Prelims and then thought let me give the Mains a good shot. So I qualified that and the interview and there I was, a freshly minted civil servant. In terms of my rank in the list I qualified for the IPS. But my family thought that someone who was decidedly outspoken and had a bleeding heart would be a disaster in the police force. And hence I joined the Indian Audit and Accounts Service. In retrospect, I am glad I did so because it gave a ringside and in-depth view of how Government works both at the State and Central level.
Having worked with Government in various Departments, including Audit, Defence, Broadcasting, I felt that a good step forward in the learning curve would be to use the skills learned in a different environment. I have always had a deep interest in the development sector and when I got head hunted by Oxfam India as their Director Operations, I very willingly made the switch. The time and the organisation seemed right. And it is a decision I have never regretted.
Can you elaborate on your belief that learning should be a joyful journey filled with curiosity and self-fulfillment?
I went to a school when I was six years old where the entire focus was on children learning with curiosity, asking all the questions they wanted and most importantly, a large part of our learning was experiential. All our senses were engaged in the way we learnt, in a non-threatening atmosphere. It was not technology or expensive teaching and learning aids but we learnt from what we had around us. We held things, saw things, and heard and discussed. The focus was not on how many marks one got but how much one understood.
Our report cards every year focused on the competencies we had, what needed to be nurtured more and how we were growing as young people. I think this is what led me to look at how we could bring similar joy into learning into low resource schools. It is not always necessary to have the most expensive and state-of-the-art teaching and learning material. Working with empathy, consultation and with whatever is available locally, we can achieve learning outcomes. And the one thing we focus on is integrating local culture into whatever material we create, the examples we give so that children relate to this.
How do you define and foster teacher-agency to create an enabling environment for children?
What do we mean when we say teacher agency? Basically, it means enabling teachers to have a meaningful relationship with children, with learning material, with design and structure. No one understands children better than their teachers and yet at times, they are not consulted enough when there is a centralisation of syllabus, curriculum, and teaching plans. While this may be done with the best of intentions to have a standardised approach across all schools, it still leaves teachers feeling they have not been a part of the process.
We found that the key factor that works well is constantly engaging teachers in all conversations, consulting them and taking feedback and developing material and activities collaboratively for all Classes. Also, we embody an element of ‘play’ in our work by integrating activity and experiential based modules into existing textbooks and link these activities to NCERT Learning Outcomes. To ensure that the activities are rolled out in a standardised way, there are Teacher Handbooks that lay out in detail how activities are to be rolled out so that Learning Outcomes are achieved. I think it is a fortuitous coming together of all of this that helps us have interested and engaged teachers and the response has been very good.
What are some of the most critical changes needed in the current education system to ensure holistic development for children?
I think the focus needs to be on learning first. Marks and performance should follow learning rather than it being the other way round. With the current dispensation of a Common University Entrance Examination, I think we can make that pivot to children learning and comprehending rather than rote and regurgitation. It is an ideal time with the National Education Policy 202’s emphasis on Higher order Thinking and 21st century skills.
Unless there is a love of learning, these things will fall into the rote channel. And this is also the time to enable teachers to be an integral part of the ideation process to use their years of experience and understanding and make them feel valued in the system.
How do you engage key stakeholders in a child's life to create a supportive ecosystem for learning and growth?
The child is at the centre of the ecosystem and is a recipient. Hence it devolves upon the parents, teachers, peers, and the larger community to build that ecosystem that is sustaining, safe and allows children to learn without fear. Having engaged teachers is key to the process but parental involvement is equally important as one cannot force children to come to school. It is important that parents are an integral part of the child’s learning process. They bring great value even if they themselves are sometimes unlettered.
Talking to children about what they do, creating family trees, engaging them in play, story telling sessions can be a part of the formal learning process to ensure involvement. I don’t think PTms are the only way to engage parents. It has to go way beyond that and become an integral part of the teaching and learning process. Through this, two things happen. Definitely parental involvement which will help in persuading them to send children to school. But more importantly, especially with first generation learners, respect for their parents and how hard they have worked to put them in a learning environment.
As a prolific writer and thought leader, what are some of the main themes you focus on in your columns about development, governance, and defence?
I write on a lot of issues but sporadically. I used to be a part of the Defence Ministry for a few years and have a deep and abiding interest on defence issues. I have written about financial inclusion, microfinance, financial literacy, defence, governance. I am passionately involved with the education space and think of myself as an evangelist for joyful learning. I now write on issues around learning and maybe, one day will write something very different.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers and leaders who want to contribute to discussions on education and development?
I don’t think I have the wherewithal to advice those who are experts in their own fields. As long as we are empathetic and really feel about the issues that concern us, solutions and ideas evolve organically and we all find our own pathways to what we want to achieve.
