Page 49 - EW July 2022

People

and catering, yoga and culinary arts) Nadu over the next five years. “We been a master franchisee for Karna-
to fulfill the skills training mandate also want to print our own textbooks taka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
of the National Education Policy and develop customised curriculums. of the Mumbai-based Podar Educa-
2020. Astronomy, sociology, music The challenges confronting India’s tion Network that owns and manages
(theory and practice) and global per- children in the new globalised world over 600 preschools countrywide.
spectives are set to be introduced in are becoming increasingly complex Currently, she supervises 62 Podar
middle and high school curriculums. and competitive. We want our chil- ECCE centres in the three southern
History. An education and business dren to be ready to confront them states.
management postgrad of Bharathiar successfully,” says Rao. In 2017, Vickram promoted the
University, Coimbatore and Notting- Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) Leadership Initiative for Educators
ham University (UK), Rao began her (LIFE), which conducts workshops
professional career in the family-run Innovative educator on educational leadership and devel-
Prahlad Textiles Pvt. Ltd in 2007. opment of organisational cultures.
However, after acquiring valuable Since then, she has organised nu-
organisational, management and ad- committed proponent of merous conferences and workshops
min experience, she opted to switch play in early childhood for school leaders and teachers. In
to her true calling: education, and A education, Bengaluru-based recognition of this initiative, Vickram
was appointed director of the family- parenting coach, leadership mentor, was conferred the ‘Times Power
run VGI schools in 2011. educator and edupreneur PREETHI Women 2019’ award.
Over the past decade under Rao's VICKRAM is founder-director of the Vickram is critical of memory-
leadership, all Vivekalaya schools new-age Cambridge (UK)-affiliated based learning pedagogies and the
have experienced a 15-20 percent summative and formative
rise in student enrolment and exam systems followed by a
significant improvement in learning majority of Indian schools.
outcomes. For instance 70 percent Tapas is the outcome of this
of students who write the class X dissatisfaction.
IGCSE (UK) exam of Vivekalaya’s Direct talk. “Conventional
Prakriya International School are education focuses on
routinely awarded A and A* grades. memorisation rather than
Moreover, a strong advocate of expe- on understanding concepts
riential learning and skills develop- and skills building. In Tapas,
ment, she has spearheaded introduc- our focus is on how to learn
tion of experiential pedagogies and rather than what to learn.
vocational courses in the group’s five All learning is contextual to
schools. Vickram: creative dissatisfaction a project — be it language,
Direct talk. “For far too long, we maths or science. Moreover,
have been following an outdated rote Tapas (derived from the Hindi our ‘buddy time’ initiative and peer
learning system that drills informa- word tapasya meaning devotion, presentations ensure that children
tion which children are expected estb.2020). The school which began develop social skills from early age,”
to regurgitate in exams. There is operations last June (2021) offers says Vickram.
little or no focus on learning-by- project-based STEAM (science, tech- Future plans. Vickram has drawn up
doing. In Vivekalaya schools, we nology, engineering, arts and maths) a detailed blueprint for the future.
want to change this by providing education to 22 class I-III children “Currently, we are an early childhood
a teaching-learning environment mentored by seven teachers. class I-III school. Our future plan is
where children learn experientially, Newspeg. In March, Tapas marked to add two grades every year in our
learn to think critically and develop its first anniversary with varshik main campus under construction
problem solving skills. We have also utsav (annual fest) featuring board in suburban Bengaluru. Moreover,
introduced several skilling and voca- games, shadow puppet theatre, under the LIFE banner we will soon
tional courses to develop children’s release of children’s books, skits, and offer two courses on developmental
practical skills. Our objective is to play acting by students. play and early childhood education
offer students well-rounded educa- History. A humanities and business in collaboration with universities in
tion with active involvement of our management alum of Bangalore Uni- the US and Singapore,” says Vick-
parents’ community,” says Rao. versity with a diploma in women’s ram.
Future plans. The group has plans to entrepreneurship awarded by IIM- Aruna Raghuram (Ahmedabad)
expand its footprint beyond Tamil Bangalore, since 2004 Vickram has

48 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2022