The fourth Reading for Change event takes S. Giridhar’s Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers as an entry point to SDG 4 Quality Education. Drawing from S. Giridhar’s personal experience with the Azim Premji Foundation, the book tells the stories of government school teachers across India, dedicated to improving the lives of the children in their care.
Join author S. Giridhar and Uma Mahadevan (Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj to the GoK) in conversation about Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers and SDG 4, using the book as an entry point to discuss the importance and the challenges of creating a space for quality education. Read the book and join the discussion with your thoughts, reflections and questions.
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About the speakers:
S. Giridhar is the Chief Operating Officer of Azim Premji University. One of the earliest members of Azim Premji Foundation, Giridhar joined the Foundation eighteen years ago after over two decades in business management roles. When the Foundation established the Azim Premji University, he became the first Registrar and COO. He has for many years now, been writing regularly, drawing from his rich experiences and observations on the ground. He recently published ‘Ordinary People, Extraordinary Teachers: The heroes of real India’ (Westland Books), a book that is a tribute to heroic government school teachers. Weaving stories from his field study, where he interacted with over 250 wonderful teachers in 110 schools across five districts, the book has touched the hearts of readers. Giridhar’s other passion is cricket and he has co-authored two acclaimed books on the sport: Midwicket Tales: From Trumper to Tendulkar and From Mumbai to Durban: India’s Greatest Tests.
Uma Mahadevan is an IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, currently working as Principal Secretary, Panchayat Raj to the Government of Karnataka. She has worked in important sectors in the Central and State Government. She has previously worked as Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development, during which time she steered the launch of several important new policy interventions in the state. She has previously worked in the planning, agriculture, education and health sectors in the state, and the atomic energy sector in the Government of India. She was a member of the working group that produced Karnataka’s first Human Development Report. She writes regularly on culture, policy and development issues.
About Reading For Change
Books have been our windows to the world for the past several centuries. When we talk about the future of the planet, books can continue to help us understand the multiplicity of approaches needed for our journey ahead.
In this series, we look at the the UN Sustainable Development Goals - the SDGs - as facets of our daily lives and not as distant landmarks in space and time. Over the next year Champaca Bookstore, Science Gallery Bengaluru and Bengaluru Sustainability Forum will curate a collection of books for you that closely relate to the themes of the SDGs. These will open up avenues of discussion to connect the SDGs and books with the city and you, the people of the city.