The ideas and work narrated in this book would not have been possible without Atishi and Shailendra Sharma guiding us as remarkable advisors. I must also thank my previous education secretary, Punya Salila Srivastava, and Sandeep Kumar, the one now, the three directors I have had the opportunity to work with—Padmini Singla, Saumya Gupta and Binay Bhushan. My personal team—secretaries to minister, C. Arvind and D. Verma, personal secretaries, Mahesh Kaushik and Davender Sharma (Rinku), and OSD Praveen Chaudhary, for coordinating all office and fieldwork. Sanjay, who has typed thousands of my notes and orders painstakingly. Thanks to Javed and Kajal for developing communication materials whenever required and within no time. It is easy to write about all the work we have done till now but I know the effort and long hours they have put in to make my dream of education reform a reality. They have worked tirelessly from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day with a smile on their faces.
The destination was shown to me by Som Tyagi of Jeevan Vidya Group who introduced me to the research of late Shri A. Nagraj, propounder of the coexistence education model and my eternal lodestar. When I went to see him in Amarkantak after taking charge as the education minister of Delhi, he said to me: ‘Shiksha se Dilli ka manviyakaran karo [Transform Delhi into a humane society through education].’ His words have always been my guiding light.
I also thank Premanka Goswami of Penguin Random House India for giving me the idea to write about my travels and travails. Saloni Mital and Preeti Chaturvedi of Penguin Random House India, Priyanka Sarkar and nine government school teachers—Gaurav Kumar, Ila Varma, Manu Gulati, Harish Yadav, Ruchi Wali, Rashmi Grover, Kamayani Joshi, Sheetal and Kapila Parashar—for helping me in making this idea a reality.
Lastly but most importantly, I would like to acknowledge the emotional support and care I have received from my wife, Seema, and my son, Meer. Without them this journey and this book would not have been possible. Seema has been my constant companion as my path in life has taken me from being a journalist to an activist to a politician and now an education minister. Meer is still in school and has been one of the biggest critics at every step and thought in this journey.
THE BEGINNING
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This collection published 2019
Copyright © Manish Sisodia 2019
The moral right of the author has been asserted
Jacket images © Saurabh Garge
This digital edition published in 2019.
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