Chandra Lekha Singh

Chandra Lekha Singh

Assistant Professor
chandralekha.singh@mahindrauniversity.edu.in

Chandra Lekha has a multidisciplinary academic career spanning the disciplines of Science, Education, and History. She is a passionate researcher interested in exploring the history of Indian education and the history of science education, cutting across the categories of caste, class, and gender. She is also interested in exploring the institutional histories of educational institutions and has published in reputed national and international journals. She has presented her research papers at various national and international conferences, including those at Loyola University, Chicago and the University of Luxembourg.

Education

  • Ph.D.: Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
  • M.Phil.: Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
  • M.Ed.: Faculty of Education, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
  • B.Ed.: Faculty of Education, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
  • M.Sc. (Botany): Department of Botany, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Agra.
  • B.Sc.: Agrasen P.G. College, V.B.S. Purvanchal University.

Experience

  • Research Assistant to Dr Elena Valdameri, ETH Zurich. (2018-2019)
  • Research Associate for a history project based in Berlin, with Dr Maria Framke, University of Erfurt, Historical Seminar, Chair of Global History. (2022, 2023, 2024)
  • Worked as Research Associate in a history project based in Zurich, with Dr Elena Valdameri, Assistant Professor, ETH Zurich. (2022)
  • Research Associate to Dr Joanna Simmonow, Heidelberg University.
  • Editorial Assistant, Paedagogica Historica: International journal for the history of education, Taylor & Francis (September 2021-Present).

Publications

  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Women’s Education in Colonial India: The role of women’s movement, transnational actors and the local pioneers”. 2023. RePLITO. https://doi.org/10.21428/f4c6e600.b19056f6
  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Indian Educators,” Encyclopedia of Asian Educators, edited by Shin’ ichi Sujuki, Parimala V. Rao and others, Routledge. 2022.
  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Educational ideas of Annie Besant,” Esapcio, Tiempo y Educación 6 no.2 (2019): 255-71. (1 citation)
  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Annie Besant’s defence of Indian caste system: a critique,” History and Sociology of South Asia 13, no.1 (2019): 1-18. (2 citations)
  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Making “Ideal” Indian Women: Annie Besant’s Engagement with the issue of Female Education in Early Twentieth-Century India,” Paedagogica Historica 54 no.5 (2018): 606–25. [7 citations]
  • Singh, Chandra Lekha. “Contested Curricula: An Exploration into the issue of Common Curriculum for girls and boys (1870-1980).” In Right to Education & Schooling., edited by Deepa Idnani, 54-66. New Delhi: Rawat Publication, 2017.
  • Collaborated in the Review of International Bibliography of the History of Education and Children’s Literature (2013), edited by Dorena Caroli & Luigiaurelio Pomante. Italy: University of Macerata, 2014.

My area of research is the history of education in India, encompassing the education of the masses, the education of marginalised and disadvantaged groups, girls’ and women’s education, educational movements, and institutional histories. I have explored the debates on the issue of compulsory and free elementary education in colonial India. I have undertaken an institutional history of Central Hindu College, the predecessor of Banaras Hindu University. Currently, I am working on a monograph based on my Ph.D. thesis.

Select paper presentations:

  • The Challenge of gender: debating compulsory elementary education for girls in colonial India, CESI, RIG: History of Education, organised by Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad. December 2022.
  • Free and compulsory education of the depressed classes: An analysis of the debates in early twentieth century India, ISCHE 42, Orebro University, Sweden, June 2021 (Online).
  • Compulsory elementary education for girls: a study of debates in colonial India, ICHRE History of Education Conference, UK, 9 July 2020, conducted online due to Covid 19 Pandemic.
  • Gokhale’s Elementary Education Bill: An analysis of the debates. Comparative Education Society of India (CESI), Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India, 2019.
  • Education of High caste Hindu girls: A case study of Annie Besant’s Central Hindu girls’ school in early twentieth century India. ISCHE 38, Loyola University Chicago 2016.
  • Central Hindu College: the Progenitor of Benares Hindu University, Comparative Education Society of India (CESI), Azim Premji University Bangalore, 2015.
  • Annie Besant’s Educational Experiment: the genesis of Central Hindu College. Graduate Seminar, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 2015.
  • Education of Girls: What to Teach?:  National Symposium organised by Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women, University of Delhi, 2014.