This special edition has its origins in a series of six seminars organised in hybrid mode between 2021 and 2023 bringing together education practitioners and scholars from countries of the Global South, more specifically India and South Africa as members of the BRICS network, funded by the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS), South Africa. The editors of this special edition would like to thank all those who participated in the NIHSS BRICS Network project from the various institutions.