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School leaders should be lifelong learners, facilitators of change, and catalyst for collaboration, Shashikala Wanjari, Vice-Chancellor, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), has said. She was delivering the keynote address on the theme ‘Leadership pathways for school improvement’ at a three-day ‘Inter-School Leadership Academy Regional Seminar of South Indian States on School Leadership’ in the State capital on Tuesday. Collaboration, Prof. Wanjari said, resulted in synergy that generated innovative ideas. She observed that as the education system evolved in response to socio-economic and technological changes, the role of school leaders had become more complex, dynamic, and critical than ever before. Earlier, school leadership was looked at from an administrative and managerial lens. Today, it was recognised as a transformative force, requiring vision, empathy, innovation, and the ability to mobilise people and resources in order to provide quality education. She also stressed the need for investing in professional development of school leaders on a continuous basis to enable knowledge sharing, supporting each other, and improving collective practices and outcomes. Director of General Education N.S.K. Umesh was the special guest at the seminar in which SIEMAT-Kerala Director Jayaprakash R.K. delivered the introductory speech. State Institute of Educational Technology Director B. Aburaj also spoke. The seminar has been organised by the School Leadership Academy – Kerala under the State Institute of Educational Management and Training – Kerala (SIEMAT-Kerala) in collaboration with the National Centre for School Leadership-NIEPA as part of initiatives to strengthen leadership capacity in school education. Representatives from Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Lakshadweep are attending the seminar that will include case study and empirical research presentations.
