Transformation and Empowerment through Education challenges the normalisation of Western discourses as the optimal choice for empowering education. The book aims to reconstruct our relationship with education and employs contemporary theories in order to understand some of the most persistent phenomena in contemporary education and its role in our lives. Written by professionals with experience of a wide range of academic and institutional conventions and traditions, and from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, this book effectively presents a global perspective on educational practices, both inside and outside the classroom. The range of topics covered includes equity, access, inclusivity, social justice, leadership and the internationalisation of teaching. This book, based on empirical studies using key methodologies, is ideal for academics and postgraduate researchers interested in critical pedagogy, educational studies and educational linguistics, as well as educators and policymakers around the world.

Transformation and Empowerment through Education challenges the normalisation of Western discourses as the optimal choice for empowering education. The book aims to reconstruct our relationship with education and employs contemporary theories in order to understand some of the most persistent phenomena in contemporary education and its role in our lives. Written by professionals with experience of a wide range of academic and institutional conventions and traditions, and from diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, this book effectively presents a global perspective on educational practices, both inside and outside the classroom. The range of topics covered includes equity, access, inclusivity, social justice, leadership and the internationalisation of teaching. This book, based on empirical studies using key methodologies, is ideal for academics and postgraduate researchers interested in critical pedagogy, educational studies and educational linguistics, as well as educators and policymakers around the world.

Technological innovations across the globe are bringing profound change to our society. Governments around the world are experiencing and embracing this technology-led shift. New platforms, emerging technologies, customizable products, and changing citizen demand and outlook towards government services are reshaping the whole journey. When it comes to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in any sector, the Government of India has emerged as an early adopter of these technologies and has also focused on last-mile delivery of citizen-centric services. Citizen Empowerment through Digital Transformation in Government takes us through the four-decade long transformational journey of various key sectors in India where ICT has played a major role in reimagining government services to citizens across the country. It touches upon the emergence of the National Informatics Centre as a premier technology institution of the Government of India and its collaborative efforts with the Central, State Governments, as well as the District level administration, to deliver best-in-class solutions. Inspiring and informative, the book is filled with real-life transformation stories that have helped to lead the people and the Government of India to realize their vision of a digitally empowered nation.

Transforming the Lives of Impoverished Girls in Patriarchal Societies Since 2003 a privately funded high school in India has provided desperately needed education for girls from impoverished families in Lucknow, the capital and largest city in Uttar Pradesh. Urvashi Sahni, the founder of Prerna Girls School, has written a compelling narrative of how this modest school in northeast India has changed the lives of more than 5,000 girls and their families. Most important, it is through the perspectives of the girls themselves, rather than through a remote academic viewpoint, that Prerna’s success unfolds. The book focuses on the importance of education in bringing about gender equality in a patriarchal society. It shows how girls learn to be equal and autonomous persons in school as part of their official curriculum and how they use this learning to transform their lives and those of their families. The book’s central argument is that education can be truly transformative if it addresses the everyday reality of girls’ lives and responds to their special needs and challenges with respect and care. The example of just one relatively small school in one corner of India, the message and the stories it tells will inspire anyone concerned about the necessity of girls’ education, especially in developing countries. The lives of the girls at Prerna Girls School are largely representative of those of millions living in poor regions in countries where patriarchal structures and norms prevail.

This book is a collection of thought-provoking papers that investigate empowerment within the context of language, education, and technology. In the seventeen papers published in the book, local and international ELT practitioners and researchers have analysed their experiences within a range of socio-linguistic situations. Adding significant insights and depth to a previously under-researched area, the publication will be of interest not only to ELT teachers and students, but also to social science researchers in developing and marginalised countries. The book based on selected papers presented at the 2007 Aga Khan University, Centre of English Language seminar in Karachi exemplifies the issues of language and empowerment. The papers deal with complex educational and socio-cultural issues and force readers to undertake a cultural journey to see them from a different perspective. The collection of papers, whatever one’s teaching-learning context, will become an essential resource book for all English language teachers, scholars, and researchers interested in learning more about the success stories and problems facing language education in the developing countries, especially Asia today.

This book reframes questions about student diversity by probing the extent to which society serves the interests of all, and by examining the empowerment of members of oppressed groups to direct social change. It examines the empowerment of children who are members of oppressed racial groups, lower class, and female, based on the ideas of multicultural education. A series of ethnographic studies illustrates how such young people view their world, their power to affect it in their own interests, and their response to what is usually a growing sense of powerlessness as they mature. The authors also conceptualize contributions of multicultural education to empowering young people, and report investigations of multicultural education projects educators have used for student empowerment. Issues in teacher education are also discussed.