Page 12 - Glendale Group

Eduleader

bytes

While you were involved with contemporising and upgrading the Babukhan family’s five Springfields Schools, you made
time to promote the Glendale Academy in 2003. What was the motivational factor?
It was a combination of the vision of my father-in-law to give back to society, and my dream of enriching and empowering
children with high-quality education that drove us to translate the Glendale dream into reality. Construction of Glendale
Academy was started on a barren, rocky plot of land close to the historic Golconda Fort by my late father-in-law, Bashiruddin
Babukhan (BBK). Although he had already established five Springfields Schools in Hyderabad, he was determined to endow
a world-class K-12 school upon the city of his birth to develop students ready to assume leadership positions in India and
abroad. Baba’s vision was translated into brick-n-mortar reality by my husband, Salman who led the design and construction
of the campus. If my husband gave Glendale body, I breathed the soul into the institution — designing the curriculum, ped-
agogies and teacher training programme.

Glendale was a synergy of our family — BBK’s vision, Salman’s business acumen, my education expertise and of course my
mother’s never-ending prayers for its success! We are humbled to present it as our legacy to the nation.

What were the major challenges you faced while establishing the Glendale Academy?
Persuading parents to trust a school which taught beyond academics and examinations to develop children holistically, took
time and effort. Another challenge was overcoming reservations of some parents about us being from the Muslim com-
munity. Therefore, we had to work hard to establish our secular credentials and focus on delivery of high-quality education
suitable for children of all faiths and backgrounds. Once word spread about the high-quality internationally benchmarked
K-12 education being offered at Glendale Academy, the going has been smooth. We have an annual intake of 500 students
annually by the grace of the Almighty.

You are a great proponent of brain compatible learning. What are the unique features of BCL?
When I moved to India in 1995, I found that even private school classrooms were crowded spaces dispensing traditional
chalk-n-talk and rote-learning education. Having studied education psychology in the US, this scenario depressed me, but
also stimulated me to introduce brain compatible learning into our classrooms. Propagated by American educationist Leslie
Hart, BCL is an inter-disciplinary pedagogy based on extensive neuroscience research.

You have also established the Edvantage Teacher Leadership Institute. What are your suggestions to resolve the national
teacher development crisis?
Well-known American writer, futurist, businessman and a former associate editor of Fortune magazine Alvin Toffler has said,
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and
relearn.” I believe that the only way to remain updated and have an edge over artificial intelligence is to keep illuminating
one’s own spectrum of learning. Therefore in all Glendale institutions we accord high priority to continuous teacher training
and professional development. To address the teacher training shortage, my BCL and MI videos are available free-of-charge,
online to the national teachers’ community. I have also signed a MoU with Tata Consultancy Services to provide online teach-
er training programmes.

Thinker/philosopher you admire the most.
I am always inspired by thinkers and intellectuals. Among my favourites Dr. Howard Gardner, father of the Theory of Multiple
Intelligences; Eric Jensen, author of Teaching with the Brain in Mind & Brain Compatible Strategies (1998) and the late Ste-
phen Covey who wrote Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989).

Your leadership style.
My aspiration is to evolve into a transformational leader. I believe in increasing leadership density by giving my teachers a
stake in the success of our education institutions. Moreover, I am a firm believer in continuous education. I love attending
conferences and learning from the best educators in universities such as Harvard and Cambridge.

Your favourite book on education.
You’re Smarter Than You Think: A Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences by Thomas Armstrong.

What are your future plans for the Glendale group?
Our goal is to have Glendale accredited as the first Lighthouse School of India. To this end we have initiated a Leader in Me
programme for students that develops the seven habits of highly effective people propagated by Stephen Covey. We also
want to establish schools in other states of southern India. Recently, I received an invitational letter of intent from the gov-
ernment of Andhra Pradesh to start an international residential school in the state.