ABOUT ANIL SADGOPAL
After obtaining his Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1968) from the California Institute of Technology, USA; Anil Sadgopal joined TIFR as a Fellow from where he resigned his appintment to organise a rural education and development programme through KISHORE BHARATI in Hoshangabad District, Madhya Pradesh. In collaboration with the Friends Rural Centre Rasulia, he initiated the Hoshangabad Science Teaching Programme (HSTP) in 1972 in 16 government upper primary schools which was expanded in 1978 to all the 270 odd upper primary schools of the district. He helped to found EKLAVYA in 1982 which later extended HSTP to almost 1,000 schools of 15 districts of Madhya Pradesh wherein more than one hundred thousand children learned science through an inquiry-oriented, experiment-based and environment-related pedagogy.
He joined the people’s science movement and the movement for civil liberties and democratic right in the early eighties & was active in the struggle of the Bhopal gas victims for obtaining scientific medical treatment and rehabilitation from the Government as well as justice from Union Carbide.
He has undertaken numerous assignments: Professor of Education in the University of Delhi & also served as Head, Department of Education and Dean, Faculty of Education in the University; Member of the National Commission on Teachers (1983-84), the National Policy on Education Review Committee or the Acharya Ramamurti Committee (1990) and Central Advisory Board of Education, CABE (2004 to date); Member of three CABE committees respectively on (a) Free & Compulsory Education Bill; (b) Girls’ Education and Common School System; and (c) Universalisation of Secondary Education (2004-05); Member, National Steering Committee for Review of National Curriculum Framework, NCERT (2004-05); Chairperson, NCERT’s National Focus Group on ‘Work and Education’ (2004-05).
He is a recipient of numerous awards and honours including the Jamnalal Bajaj Award (1980) and Shantiniketan’s Rathindra Puraskar (1984) for application of science and technology to rural areas; Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture (1981), UGC National Lecturer (1988),
He is currently engaged in building up a nation-wide public campaign in support of Common School System and seeking major pro-people amendments in the Draft Right to Education Bill, 2005 before it is sent to the Parliament.
He is the author of two books in Hindi: `Sangharsh aur Nirman’ (Rajkamal, New Delhi) on the trade union movement led by Shaheed Shankar Guha Niyogi, the radical leader of mine workers in Chhattisgarh, and `Shiksha mein Badlav ka Sawal’ (Granth Shilpi, New Delhi) on education policy and the need for social intervention in education & has authored dozens of articles/essays on policy analysis and adverse impact of globalisation and communal politics on education.