Despite the wide recognition
of its importance in social development, education,
as a discipline, has remained largely underdeveloped.
This, in turn, has lead to a dearth of shared
and informed body of knowledge that guides
sound policy decisions or practice in the
field. The Trusts have therefore focused its
resources to support:
Despite the efforts and achievements towards
making school education universal, elementary
education continues to be an under-developed
discipline. Weak linkages between the two,
as well as the gap between academics and the
world of practice, are the root causes of
this problem. The need for strong academic
linkages between higher and elementary education
cannot be over-emphasised.
Despite the critical role of higher education
institutions in developing school curriculum
and training teacher educators, their interaction
with the elementary schools has been far
from adequate. For historical reasons, elementary
education has been outside the ambit of
the university system. In this context,
there is an urgent need for making the field
of elementary education more professional.
In view of this situation, and with the
stated objective of nurturing education
as a discipline, the Trusts endeavour to
promote educational research by focusing
on comparative research, apart from developing
language and literacy. It also strives to
develop a link between higher and elementary
education. This approach is vital in order
to enable education to develop an intrinsic
orientation towards reform, besides having
leaders who understand education as a specialised
field of professional engagement.
With increasing investments being made
in the field of elementary education, the
need for a specialised cadre of professionals
has been widely acknowledged. The Trusts
attempt to address some of these gaps through
its grant making.
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