Andhra Pradesh Education Department – digitising the public education system using technology to improve existing infrastructure, exert every young person’s Right to Education in keeping with the guidelines laid out under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Mounik has developed a suite of web and mobile applications that ensure a fully digital paperless school management system. This was first rolled out across more than 300 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and has impacted critical aspects of school management including admission, attendance, student academic and health records, provision of mid-day meals and distribution of physical infrastructure across all government schools. It also gives school managements the possibility to map their resources, academic records as well as their admissions. The outcomes of these web- based features has been impressive especially in the areas of teacher and admissions management and monitoring, laying a strong foundation for the web products to find wider usage in the state.
Ongoing projects include research on the art and craft movement in India which began in the mid 18th, early 19th century which gave rise to the art schools before Independence and which are still in existence today. These were used as training grounds for prisoners and other marginalised communities to learn livelihood skills. in addition, Kristine has authored a monograph on the eminent ceramic artist, P Daroz. This will be published this year, as will the book, Mutable : Ceramic and Clay Art in India since 1947, which is scheduled to be launched online. An exhibition Creation/Re-Creation is also available online on the theme of kintsugi, the Japanese form of ceramic repair also known as golden joinery curated by Kristine.
Ongoing projects include Artistic Co-direction with Farooq Chaudhry OBE of the PECDA initiative – a competition for innovative choreography in contemporary dance held every two years in South India resulting in a cash award furnished by the Prakriti Foundation as well as training and mentoring for the winner(s) with a world-renowned dance space or company in Europe or elsewhere. Chandrika has more than 3 decades experience working interculturally in the South Asia region and internationally, especially with Europe. She is also committed to supporting Indian arts organisations in meeting their strategic goals and is currently researching rural arts organisations – their structure, models for sustainability and self-sufficiency so that they can prove to be exemplars in a post-Covid scenario. She is also engaged in institutionalising proprietorial arts organisations – establishing instruments for creating a viable, interactive arts community and in creating models that balance pedagogy and profit.
