On 23rd March 2020, India went into a country-wide full lockdown with a 4-hour notice and life as we knew it changed overnight. As we tried to make sense of what was happening around us, we offered an invitation through a 3-part article that we wrote. It was an invitation for all of us to pause. To just breathe. Take a moment of stillness before we respond. Because in that moment, is when new insights could emerge. Take that time from panic to give way to clarity and allow for us to potentially offer a whole new response, something different, unique, and contextual to the current crisis. Especially in education, especially for our children.

We were overwhelmed to see the response. We had hundreds of individuals and dozens of national and international organizations who joined us on the journey to re-imagine the future. The question was simple, What if? What is the #WhatIf we wish to invite into our imagination to transform education for all our children?

As we went into our own exploration and listened to all the people and voices around us, some patterns started to emerge. First was the acknowledgement that this crisis has taken a toll on our emotional and mental health, especially children. And we asked the question of what role could school and teachers play in helping children overcome the impact of this pandemic on their mental health. For a system that has traditionally only focused on the academic achievement of children, this felt like a breath of fresh air. Not one person we spoke to asked why we should focus on emotional and mental health in school. The question had moved now to how it could be integrated.

The second was the recognition that learning doesn’t always happen in ‘schools’. As parents and family members took on the role of teachers, suddenly, a new paradigm of learning became possible. It would now only be a limitation of our imagination if we do not take this insight into the post-COVID-19 world. How can learning be a community-initiative, led by the school but held by everyone in the child’s life?

Third, the realization that it is not the future that is uncertain anymore. It is the present. Not only do we not know what the jobs of the future are going to look like, we also cannot predict the global challenges that await our next generation. With the economic and political fallouts of this pandemic and the exploding dangers of climate change, the skills that our children will require to navigate our interconnected, complex, globalized world are fundamentally different than what we needed. So, are we doing enough to prepare them?

Lastly, the crisis also had its share of casualties within the education system. It is unclear how many children, especially girls will return to formal schooling as schools reopen. The worst-hit are the children we have lost and will continue to lose, to child labour and child trafficking as parents deal with the economic collapse due to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns. Additionally, a notional idea of inequity turned into a living breathing monster in the form of ‘online learning’. As Parth M.N (from PARI) rightly pointed out, over the course of the last few months we went from a digital divide to a digital partition.

Globally, the pandemic invoked a racial reckoning as protests erupted across the world against systemic racism. Closer to home, we started the year with pictures of the protestors at Shaheen Bagh and closed the year with videos of peacefully protesting farmers being shot at with water cannons and teargas grabbing national headlines.

What does all this then mean as we move from #WhatIf to #WhatNext? We believe that the pause gave us an opportunity to see things differently. To be forced to explore what else was possible. And to acknowledge the magnitude of challenges that our young people are going to face in the future and our role in preparing them for it. However, converting these insights into tangible actions that can impact the lives of millions of children, has only become harder. As systemic inequities get further

exacerbated, we know more children are going to get left behind even with the many innovations that we developed along the way. So seriously, what next?

We asked the question to ourselves and to everyone — What is our most compassionate offer to our children?

For us, the last year has meant a renewed focus on a complete mindset shift on the purpose of education and the role of society in that shift. We are embarking on a journey to re-purpose education to ensure a thriving life for every child.

And the pandemic has shown us that this is a 2-way street. It is a journey that ensures every child is responsible, happy and resilient, while also breaking down the systemic barriers that stop them from reaching their potential. It is a journey to develop the life-skills that children need, to overcome adversity and prepare for an uncertain future, while also dismantling the intersectional and deeply entrenched discrimination that marginalized children face.

Of course, this will only be possible if we are able to face up to our own biases of gender, caste, sexual orientation, and abilities on the road to empowerment. If we wish to empower children to seek their desired future, it will require us to role-model speaking truth to power. We will need to repurpose our mission towards dismantling the systems of inequalities and indignities that continue to intensify, especially during times of crisis. Only then, can every child Thrive.

This is our #WhatNext. We are ready to move forward from the pause, from the #WhatIf Global Movement to now #WhatNext. Again, we invite you to join us. Because our belief has only been strengthened that we are all willing and able to come together for our children and solve massive complex issues collaboratively; with trust, empathy, love, care and courage.

· Authored by Suchetha Bhat and Vishal Talreja

Suchetha Bhat is CEO, Dream a Dream.

Vishal Talreja is Co-Founder, Dream a Dream