Flip The Script On Education: A Reflection In Celebration of the International Day of Education 2025

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Happy International Day of Education! 

On today's episode of Flip The Script, we're flipping the script on education, in honour of the International Day of Education and we're doing that by shattering the myth that education only happens in schools and classrooms. I believe in holistic, out-of-school and transformative education that changes us and empowers us to change the world and I believe this is God’s heart for education. Education doesn't only happen in schools and classrooms but in all of daily life, and we should never confine or limit education to that. 

My case study today is one of the most inspiring young people I’ve ever learned about: 19-year-old Gitanjali Rao who’s a science enthusiast and an inventor and already invented her first science-based device at 11 years old (2017). According to her, she ‘loves to come up with new ideas every time she sees problems around her.” Gitanjali Rao, A Young Innovator's Guide to STEM, p.25.

To date, Gitanjajli has impacted 85,000 Students in 46 countries and 6 continents through innovation workshops/sessions, she has ideated and developed 7 different inventions to help people globally and she has conducted 500 workshops to work towards an "innovation movement" including in rural schools in the US, Canada, Kenya, India, Afghanistan, Philippines, Australia, UK, China, Nepal, Chile, Ghana, Geneva, UAE and other West African countries. 

What a bold and audacious impact she’s made, all in her pre-teen and teen years!

I first found out about Gitanjali at the WISE Summit, an education summit that was held in Qatar, in 2021. She was a 16-year-old keynote speaker and at that time had invented Tethys (2017), “ a “patented device to detect lead in drinking water faster and more inexpensive than current techniques. Based on the latest developments in carbon nanotube sensor technology” as well as Kindly (2020), an “AI-based anti-cyberbullying service that aims to detect and prevent cyberbullying at an early stage.” Since the summit, she has gone on to invent Epione (2022), “a device to diagnose prescription opioid addiction using the latest developments in protein detection systems. Based on the protein expression of the mu-opioid receptor gene.”

She’s been recognized for her impact on so many levels: she’s been recognized as America's Top Young Scientist, for showcasing an innovative product. She’s been recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 awardee, for her community service and innovation. She received the TIME's Young Innovator award, for her global workshops and innovations. She received the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian Award for community service and fund-raising efforts to build maker space for refugee camps. She was the first recipient of the TIME's Kid of the Year for her promotion of STEM and Innovation globally and she’s recognized as a UNICEF Youth Advocate, for her promotion of anti-cyberbullying and launching the service "Kindly" in partnership with UNICEF. 

What a remarkable list of accolades she’s got going! Right? In her own words, Gitanjali’s goal is to “create global change by starting an innovation movement of teens looking to make a difference!” And she’s been doing that a lot through her work! At the education summit where I first saw her, she talked extensively about her thoughts on STEM and education and I think sitting with her words on this International Day of Education will inspire you a lot! Check it out here.

It Started With Pasta At Dinner

There are so many parts of Gitanjali’s journey that inspire me and I discuss them later in this article. But I believe what I found most inspiring was how it all started. I read her book, “A Young Innovator’s Guide to STEM: 5 Steps To Problem Solving For Students, Educators, and Parents” and she talks about how the idea for her first product came:

“My favorite idea…was discovered while I was eating a bowl of pasta on the dinner table after school one day. I was nine years old. My parents, my little brother, and I were sitting down at the table, eating some of my dad’s famous pasta. Yum! I was shoving pasta down my throat so I could get back to where I left off in a Lego masterpiece. In the background, I heard the news going on like always during dinner. We always liked to have a little bit of background noise as we ate. However, as I twirled some spaghetti around my fork, something caught my heart. I heard the newscast in the background saying, “Flint, Michigan, is facing a lead in the water crisis…” And that is really all I needed to hear. I turned my complete attention to the TV to see kids my age with mental defects, and it did not feel right. 

I immediately asked my parents, “Why are those kids facing so many problems?” My mom, equally worried, replied, “They don’t have clean water to drink because there is lead in their drinking water.” I started with another question, “What’s lead?” This is where my dad jumped in, “Lead is a metal on the periodic table of elements. There was contamination in the pipes in Flint, so lead unexpectedly entered their water and made it poisonous.” It seemed unfair. Why do kids like me not have safe water to drink? I took a sip of my cold water and examined it for a bit. I looked at my mom again as my little brother babbled away. I pointed to the glass, “So in Flint, the water I’m drinking right now would have lead in it?” Reluctantly, my mom said yes, as she sucked in some air through her teeth. 

I gobbled up my spaghetti and headed to my room. I washed up, brushed, and hopped into my pajamas. I got into bed, but I could barely sleep. I could not stop thinking about everyone who was being affected in Flint. Water is a basic right that everybody should have; it is not a choice.

I woke up the next morning with a new motive in mind. I wanted to do something about the Flint water crisis. I kept that idea in my mind for the longest time but still was not sure how to help.

Little did I know, thinking about the Flint water crisis would change my entire life. One year later, I started by browsing the MIT Tech Review website for hours, looking for technology and ideas that interested me." Gitanjali Rao, A Young Innovator's Guide to STEM, pp.25-28

Here’s the thing, though, it all started while she was eating pasta at dinner with her family. It happened so naturally, so much within the rhythm of daily living. It started there but it didn’t stop there. She was aware of herself and her environment. She was sensitive to the news she saw on TV, then, “...something caught her heart…did not feel right…seemed unfair,” so she “...asked and asked and asked again.”

All of this process happened at home, not in class. The learning, the stirring of her heart, the curiosity that led her to ask questions and the resolve to take action - it all happened at home. Gitanjali’s story deconstructs the belief we’ve long held that good education happens only in schools and classrooms, especially elite schools. She demystifies that by showing us how the core outcomes of education - the spark of curiosity, seeking relevant knowledge and taking action with that knowledge to make a difference - can all be triggered anywhere, even at a dinner table.

Gitanjali shares earlier in her book, that:

I come up with some of my best ideas in the most generic places. Sometimes they pop into my brain when I am swimming, pacing around my living room, or even just getting lemonade out of the refrigerator. It’s weird, right? But that’s exactly what innovation is about. Usually, everything starts to come together when you least expect it. Gitanjali Rao, A Young Innovator's Guide to STEM, p.25.

Just as some of our best ideas come to us as we live our lives subconsciously, so does education also happen in the context of daily living. So why do we look down on all the ways that education is happening within us and around us?

Education happens in the context of daily living.

The Foundation

Even though her first invention got triggered at dinnertime, I believe the underlying foundation for it happened way before then. In her keynote conversation I earlier cited, Gitanjali mentions something so profound. She said she “...believes that the foundation for science and technology is empathy.” I believe this is the equivalent of love in action (compassion). She mentioned that she was thankful to grow up in an environment where she had the liberty to fail and learn, so she didn’t see failure as a bad thing but as a necessary part of her learning process. I believe this is a mindset of grace at work. She also encourages fellow young people to go into the innovation learning journey with a positive mindset. I would call this faith in motion. 

For a believer in Christ, this is good news! Gitanjali’s journey shows us practical examples of what our faith in Christ could be. We often think that being a believer has no real-world impact but nothing could be further from the truth! We have a greater advantage because we don’t have a love, grace or faith problem. Here’s why:

First, on LOVE: Our Father God is love and He made us IN His love and FOR His love. His Holy Spirit within us fills our hearts with His love so when we see the challenges in the world, our heart overflows with the love of God that inspires us to empathy and compassion. 

Second, on GRACE: We are saved, marked and changed by God’s grace - His unearned, unmerited and undeserved favour, love and kindness demonstrated by the Cross. We see ourselves and the world through the lens of God’s grace. We are kind to ourselves. We do not label ourselves with our failures because we know they do not define us in God’s eyes. Instead, we know that Christ has redeemed our failures and God transforms it and uses it to transform us. 

Third, On FAITH: Our faith is even a gift from God too - it comes as a response to hearing about God’s love for us. If that is true and it is, faith to transform the world comes when we hear about God’s love for the world. When we see how much God loves the world, wants to move in the world to make an impact and wants to work with us and through us to do that, this births faith within us. Also, as believers, we have the mind of Christ and as He is, so are we in this world. I’m pretty sure Jesus doesn’t have an issue with thinking positively, so by our union with Him, we don’t have a problem with positive thinking!

So, if love, grace and faith are the #FlippedToChrist equivalents of the foundation for Gitanjali’s innovative endeavours, we are definitely in a better place (with all our in-Christ realities) as believers and we can choose to make a difference in the world too, by believing right about this and leaning into it!

So let’s flip the script on our education today and see what’s possible when we believe right! We believe right by believing in the God of Grace and the Grace of God! By believing that we are children of a creative God who did not only create us in His image to reflect His creativity to the world but also recreated in Christ as His masterpiece, empowered with His life to do greater things! 

Like Gitanjali, I believe we are all wired to do great things, not just things that count in this life, but also things that count for eternity. I hope we embrace that truth every day of our lives, including while we’re eating dinner. I pray we get to focus on Christ and lean into the advantage of the life we have in Him - His love and grace and our faith response. Scripture tells us in 1 John 5:4 that, "For whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." Our faith in Christ is our advantage! I hope we allow Gitanjali’s story to inspire us, so that we too, will become people who, “love to come up with new ideas every time they see problems around." I believe this is one of the core purposes of education.

Happy International Day of Education!

Not yet in the fam?

God is a good Father who loves you so much and wants you to be part of His family as His child. He offered His only Son, Jesus Christ, to pursue your heart and save you and bring you into the family. All you need to do is to receive His love and you can live in it and enjoy it for the rest of your life. Will you receive it? Then please say this prayer:

Father in Heaven, I thank you for loving me. Thank you for sending the gift of Your Son, Jesus Christ, to save me from my sins and give me eternal life. I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins, He was buried and on the third day, He rose again, to make me right with you. I declare that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour. I thank you that I am now saved and I'm a member of your family. I ask that You fill me with the Holy Spirit and help me to know You more. In Jesus' name, amen. 

Welcome! 

If you said this prayer for the first time, you're now a child of God and I am excited that you are my sibling in Christ. Welcome!!! 🥳There's a whole party going on in Heaven right now, on your behalf, like the excitement over a newborn baby. Will you please reach out to me and let me bless you with a resource that will help you get started on your journey of faith? Click here to do so. I love you and can't wait to meet you.