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For most Indian students, global classes are expensive, distant and accessible only to a few. Yet the pressure to compete in an increasingly global world is very real. According to educationist and neuroscientist Anil Srinivasan, a classical musician who is a Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee and recipient of the Kalaimamani, Tamil Nadu’s highest state honor for the arts, the solution lies not in sending more students abroad, but in rethinking what learning at home should look like.
“If access to global classrooms is limited, global education needs to reach students where they are,” said Anil, founder and CEO of experiential learning platform KRUU, during a wide-ranging interaction. “Otherwise, we are creating an education system where exposure is determined entirely by privilege.”
Questions are being raised on India’s degree obsession
Anil’s criticism goes deeper than the cost of foreign education. He argues that at its core, India remains overly dependent on degrees, ranks and entrance exams as indicators of competency – often at the expense of genuine understanding.
“We promote people to higher positions only because they studied there,” he said. “Not because of how they think, solve problems or engage with the world.”
He believes that this mindset leads students to make career decisions before they understand what different careers actually involve. By the time many people realize the mismatch, years of investment have already been made.
From neuroscience and music to instructional design
Although widely known as a classical musician, Anil’s work in education is rooted in neuroscience. His doctoral research at Columbia University explored how the brain processes information, particularly the role of creativity and sensory engagement in learning.
That research later shaped Rhapsody, an arts-integrated learning program that used music and movement to teach academic concepts to young children. “Children don’t learn by sitting in lines and memorizing,” she said. “They learn when curiosity, emotion and experience come together.”
By 2019, Rhapsody had reached hundreds of thousands of students in government and private schools. However, the pandemic brought that physical model to a standstill. During his prolonged hospitalization in the second Covid wave, Anil said he started rethinking access, exposure and the way he learned.
“I noticed how credentials are often valued more than competence or empathy,” he said. “This forced me to ask why should meaningful performance depend on geography or income?”
Learning that starts with real problems
He realized that the answer lay in experiential, problem-first learning – an approach that became the foundation of KRUU. Instead of starting with subjects or curriculum, students start with real-world problems and explore them through guided projects.
These projects have been designed with professors from Indian and international universities, but adapted for school students from grades 6 to 12. A student can explore engineering concepts by building a foldable shelter using simple materials, or understand artificial intelligence through a social-impact challenge rather than abstract theory.
“Output is not the issue,” said Anil. “What is important is whether the student understands the problem and the thinking behind the solution.”
Rahul Ramachandran, director of partnerships and initiatives at KRUU, said the flexibility in outcomes was intentional. “We don’t impose rigid formats or deadlines,” he said. “Some students build prototypes, others present presentations that show what they’ve learned. The focus is on engagement, not enforcement.”
Projects typically go through three phases – research, ideation and execution – over several weeks. Over a year, students work across multiple domains, gradually identifying what interests them and what they do not.
“That process of elimination is equally important,” Ramachandran said. “Many students realize too late that they have chosen a career based not on experience but on perception.”
Reaching students beyond specific locations
Experiential learning is often associated with specific schools, but Anil emphasizes that that doesn’t need to limit access. KRUU works with schools in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, hilly areas and small towns and adapts delivery based on local infrastructure.
“Technology is not the biggest hurdle,” he said. “There are awareness and mindset.”
Most projects rely on basic materials already available in schools—cardboard, chart paper, and existing science laboratories. In areas with limited digital access, students gather in shared spaces to attend sessions and then work offline.
Ramachandran said the school’s involvement is important. “Given the choice completely, a child will always choose a football match over an academic project,” he said. “Schools and teachers create the structure that makes ongoing engagement possible.”
Preparing students for uncertainty
As artificial intelligence reshapes education and employment, both Anil and Ramachandran believe that narrow technical training will soon become obsolete. He argues that what will stick are skills like critical thinking, creativity and collaboration.
“AI is a tool,” Anil said. “What will set students apart is their ability to solve problems, think independently and work with others.”
Instead of predicting future jobs, the focus should be on helping students understand themselves, he said. “If students learn to think before choosing what they want to become, they will be better prepared for whatever comes next.”
For Anil, this change is educational as well as cultural. “Global education should not require a global address,” he said. “Exposure should not be a reward – it should be a foundation.”
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