Planting the Seed of Curiosity

Being a facilitator in the higher education space for over four decades has been a truly humbling and overwhelming experience for me.

- SANDEEP SHASTRI

From X to Z, each generation has been innovative and transformative. In one of the institutions I worked in, you could see a thoughtful statement every time you entered the building: Anyone who refuses to be a student, refuses to be a teacher.

Happy Teachers' Day! The messages I receive from learners I've been fortunate to share the classroom with on Guru Poornima and Teachers' Day remind me of the learning process's impact on the approach to life and philosophy of living.

Five years ago, when launching the National Education Policy 2020, the Prime Minister raised a crucial question. He asked his audience whether the time had come to move from 'what to learn' to 'how to learn'. This is the credo of relevance for the learning revolution.

The transformation of the classroom from a zone of teaching to a place of learning over the last few decades has been remarkable. When I recall the first class I entered as a facilitator in 1982, the technology, methodology and approach to learning was vastly different from the classrooms of 2025. Our role as facilitators has seen a shift from lecturing for an hour to initiating a thought-provoking dialogue.