Article title: Rebranding Gandhi for the 21st century: science, ideology and politics at UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute (MGIEP)
Authors: Vickers, E.
Journal: Compare
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2022.2108374
This article quoted an interview with an informant whose consent to be cited had not been obtained. These quotations have now been removed at that informant’s request. The author apologises for this oversight.
Corrections: Four quotes on pages 7 and 8 of the original article have been removed, and the sections reworded. A correction statement and apology have also been inserted at the end of the article.
The corrected text is as follows:
Page 7: It was in this context that, in April 2009, a proposal was submitted to UNESCO by the Indian government for a new Category 1 Institute for education to be established in India. This was to be the first Category 1 UNESCO institute in the Asia-Pacific - a point of pride for the Indian Government, and a fact highlighted in publicity for MGIEP (e.g. on the institute’s website).
Page 7: However, curriculum falls within the purview of UNESCO’s International Bureau of Education (IBE) in Geneva, and there were those within UNESCO and Indian government circles who felt that the new institute ought to adopt a distinctive focus, embracing new technology (interviews),
Page 8: In December 2012, Khvaja Kabirodin Shaikh, a Hindi-speaking British chemist of Indian extraction, formerly director of education for the Bournemouth Local Education Authority, was appointed interim director. He served for two years, until a regular director could be appointed.
Page 8: The appointment of Duraiappah, a Malaysian development economist and founding director of the United Nations’ ‘Inclusive Wealth Report’, presaged a decisive shift in the institute’s focus towards the educational application of science (especially neuroscience) and technology. Duraiappah is described on the MGIEP website not as an educational expert, but as ‘a science policy pacesetter’. His positioning of the institute appeals to elites predisposed to believe in the power of technology and inclined to see educational policymaking essentially as a technical exercise in determining ‘what works’.