IIM Kozhikode dir Debashis Chatterjee was felicitated during the event
Nagpur: Balancing freedom with discipline, rethinking conventional curriculum and integrating artificial intelligence without compromising independent thinking emerged as key themes of the 11th International Principals’ Educational Conference (IPEC) 2026 at IIM-Nagpur on Thursday.
Speaking about the emerging “WOW generation”, an amalgamation of Gen Z and Gen Alpha, Chatterjee challenged conventional approaches to learning by asking, “Where is the blank space in our curriculum? He urged educators to move beyond textbooks and measurable outcomes to make room for independent thought and self-discovery. Using the metaphor of a kite and its string, he portrayed the kite as freedom and the string as discipline, emphasising the need to balance exploration with guidance. Palani highlighted how artificial intelligence has become increasingly embedded in everyday life, making it essential for educators to adapt their teaching methods. She stressed that education must nurture empathy, analytical thinking and wisdom rather than focus solely on information acquisition. Emphasising AI literacy, Palani called for a shift in how student work is assessed. Educators, she suggested, should ask students what additional research they conducted to verify or supplement the response generated by AI.