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Biswajit Kar

Areas of Interest & Expertise

  • School Systems
  • Education and Social Stratification
  • Neighbourhood Schooling
  • Education Policies and Data
  • Small Schools
  • Geography Education

Biography

Biswajit earned his MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. In both MPhil and PhD programmes, he researched multiple issues such as segregation, privatisation, inequality in opportunity and access, and neighbourhood schooling in the context of school education in India. He applies geographic concepts and techniques in understanding educational development in disadvantaged areas. 

Before joining Azim Premji University, Biswajit worked at National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and UNICEF, Delhi. At NIUA, he worked on multiple research projects and was the Managing Editor of Urban India, a journal published by NIUA. While working at UNICEF, he supported the designing and implementation of Management Information System (MIS) for madrassas and other research works.

Biswajit strongly believes in evidence-based policy formulation and tries to connect theories, policies, data, practice, and people’s narratives and experiences. 

His technical expertise lies in designing and managing large-scale primary surveys using Open Data Kit (ODK) platform. He is also experienced in data management and analysis (both primary and secondary datasets, namely NFHS, NSS, UDISE+, Census of India and IHDS, etc.) using statistical packages (SPSS, STATA, and R Programming) and GIS software. 

Publications

Books

  • Kundu D., Maiti, K.D., Mishra R., Kar, B. & Debnath, T. (2020). ChildreScale and nature of deprivation among children and adolescents in urban India: An Empirical Analysis. National Institute of Urban Affairs.
  • Müller A., Milbert, A., Seiwert V., Binot, R., Kundu D., Kar, B., Mishra, R., & Debnath, T. (2020). India, Germany and Europe: A spatial perspective at SDG 4 on quality education, Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).
  • Müller, A. Milbert, A, Schmidt-Seiwert, V., Binot, R., Kundu, D., Debnath, T., Kar, B., & Mishra, R. (2020). India, Germany and Europe: A spatial perspective at SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities. Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).
  • Müller, A. Milbert, A., Schmidt-Seiwert, V., Binot, R., Kundu, D., Mishra, R., Debnath, T., & Kar, B. (2020). India, Germany and Europe: A spatial perspective at SDG 3 on good health and well-being. Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR).

Journal Articles

  • Kar, B., Saha, J., & Saha, J. D. (2012). Analysis of Meteorological Drought: The Scenario in West Bengal. Indian Journal of Spatial Science, 3(2), 1 – 7.

Reports

  • CABE sub-committee (2016). Devising pathways for improving Government Schools, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh.
  • Project Team (2021). Handbook of Urban Statistics 2020, National Institute of Urban Affairs, New Delhi.

Policy Briefs

Newspaper Article

Blog Post