Shiksha Vimarsh

Shiksha Vimarsh

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In continuation with our philosophy of generating dialogue on education, we publish ‘Shiksha Vimarsh’ a bimonthly magazine on education in Hindi. Shiksha Vimarsh is a registered publication of Digantar and has been operating from 1998. It was conceived as a Hindi magazine attempting connection between theory and practice through writings both of theoretical nature as well as about the practices and experiences of the ground level in education.

Focus and Reach of the Magazine

'Shiksha Vimarsh’ is a bimonthly magazine in Hindi and seeks to inform and engage its reader in discourse on a wide spectrum of issues related to contemporary educational thought and practice, policies, problems, case studies, researches and book reviews. Shiksha Vimarsh, over the last 15 years brought out a range of issues covering: Maths pedagogy, History pedagogy, State of Children's Literature and special issues on Public-Private Partnership in Education, Right to Education and Sociology of Education. Specific issues of Shiksha Vimarsh have been used by educational institutions as supplementary reading material for various courses/programmes. Several educational institutions, universities and individuals are among the regular subscribers of this magazine.

Shiksha Vimarsh seems to have carved a niche for itself amongst the serious educators as well as students of education, though its reach is limited. We feel that there is a need to sustain this ‘small dialogue-building’ in Hindi as there seems to a paucity of magazines that publish full-length papers on important theoretical positions at present. We also feel that a dialogue amongst teachers and academicians working in elementary education should contribute to the building of understanding and a knowledge base for improvement of quality education. This should also directly contribute to creating environment for reflective classroom practices.

A major concern of ‘Vimarsh’ is to achieve partial sustainability without compromising on quality. Digantar believes that the magazine needs to be re-conceptualized in such a way as to overcome the difficulties faced in the past as well as to bring a qualitative change in it so that it becomes more accessible and responsive to its readers, which will help them in developing a balanced and critical understanding of the policy and practices as well as in making meaning of their experiences by connecting theory and practice.

History of Shiksha Vimarsh

Shiksha Vimarsh began in 1998 in response to the absence of a serious magazine dedicated to educational issues in Hindi. It began on the suggestion of several educationists, as a monthly magazine from Digantar’s own resources. It continued to be a monthly magazine till 2001. Financial constraints, forced to make it a bimonthly magazine. The first issue of Shiksha Vimarsh came out in 1998 at a time when:

  • The Government as well as the Non- Governmental Organizations were enthusiastically working for the promotion and dissemination of education on a very wide scale.
  • National level programs such as DPEP and Janshala and State sponsored programs such as Lok Jumbish and Shiksha Guarantee programs were in operation.
  • A lot of policies and programs had been announced and were being implemented on the field. And a need was felt for an educational dialogue on such important issues.
  • However there was a dearth of serious educational literature in Hindi.

It was for these very reasons and against this backdrop that 'Shiksha Vimarsh' was conceptualized as a magazine aimed at engaging the readers on a host of issues in education by helping them reflect on the theoretical deliberations in education and the ground level realities.