Page 107 - EW November 2024

Liftetime Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2024-25

Sindhu Mendke

DR. SHAYAMA CHONA (2012)
GULAB RAMCHANDANI (2012)
DR. AUGUSTINE & GRACE PINTO
(2013)
SUMER SINGH (2013)
DR. ACHYUTA SAMANTA(2013)
SANJIT (BUNKER) ROY (2014)
LT. GEN. (RETD) ARJUN RAY (2014)
SHOMIE DAS (2014)
DR. RAMDAS PAI (2015)
DR. B.S. RAO (2015)
M.V. MUTHURAMALINGAM (2015)
CAPT. RAJ MOHINDRA (2016)
DR. P.C. THOMAS (2016)
DR. R. VARADARAJAN (2016)
Sindhu Mendke receives award from EW's Dilip Thakore (left) & Summiya JAYASHREE MOHTA (2017)
Yasmeen (right) DR. JAGDISH GANDHI (2017)
ARUN KAPUR (2017)
DR. DEEPAK & DR. BHARTI MAD-
HOK (2017)

edicated educator and champion of underprivileged pandemic shutdown. A year later, Tirthanjali Academy
citizens for over four decades, Indore-based Sindhu Play School also merged with NDPS.
DMendke is incumbent chairperson of the Tirthanjali Under Ms Mendke’s dynamic leadership, NDPS has
Educational Society (estb.1978) which manages the co- transformed into a premier institution equipped with ad-
educational CBSE-affiliated K-12 New Digambar Public vanced state-of-the-art laboratories, libraries, and arts and
School, Indore (NDPS, estb.1995). Currently, NDPS has sports facilities. Although her futuristic vision and inno-
2,387 children mentored by 200 teachers on its muster vations in K-12 education were criticised by conventional
rolls. educators, her firm self-belief and determination enabled
A postgrad in political science and education of Vikram her to introduce progressive innovations such as abolition
University, Ujjain and Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, In- of school-bags, and no-homework for primary school chil-
dore, Ms Mendke began her teaching career in 1967 with dren. Moreover, she integrated yoga, arts, and sports into
the Saraswati Mahila Shikshan Sansthan followed by the primary school curriculum long before such practices
teaching stints at Sevika Vidyalaya and the Rural Institute became pervasive. In addition, Ms. Mendke’s introduction
of Kasturbagram where she served as a lecturer for three of easy learning systems for preschoolers led to the publi-
years until her marriage. cation of Kids’ Wonderland, an educational book series for
In 1978, Ms Mendke promoted The Digambar School youngest children. Currently, this octogenarian education
which started with a first batch of five students in a rented pioneer is working on publishing original musicals, theatre
house. As Founder-Principal and Director of the school, dramas, poems and songs for children.
she embraced the challenge of establishing an English- Ms Mendke’s commitment to education extends beyond
medium school despite her Hindi-medium background. the promotion and establishment of NDPS. Since 1989,
By focusing on foundational literacy and numeracy and she has been providing free-of-charge education to meri-
spiritual education of children, she proved that with deep torious underprivileged children. Other socially beneficial
understanding of children’s education, transformative initiatives include initiating cleanliness drives, e-waste
changes are possible. recycling, and relief support during national calamities in
In 1990, Ms Mendke promoted the Tirthanjali Acad- selected rural habitations. These initiatives have signifi-
emy Playschool using proven early childhood pedagogies cantly contributed to developing a sense of community and
to make learning enjoyable for youngest children. She in- civic duty within NDPS students.
tegrated established pedagogies into the curriculum and For her extraordinary contribution to the growth and
trained teachers to innovate supportive learning material. development of early childhood and primary-secondary
In 1995, The Digambar School was expanded to trans- education, the Board of Directors of EducationWorld are
form into the New Digambar Public School. After serving as pleased to present Ms Sindhu Mendke the EW Lifetime
a feeder institution for NDPS for five years, the Digambar Achievement in Education Leadership Award 2024 and
School was finally shut down in 2020 during the Covid-19 induct her into the EW Hall of Fame of Indian education.

NOVEMBER 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 107