Page 56 - EW JAN 2022

Cover Story

theory and its applications, learn-
ing becomes a joyful experience. It’s
absurd to believe that school-leaving
students can succeed in competitive
entrance exams such as IIT-JEE Ad-
vanced and NEET through learning by
rote. The secret of our success is our
excellent curriculums and pedagogy,
and continuous testing. This empow-
ers our students to succeed in highly
competitive national entrance exams,”
adds Boppana.
Although critics and holistic educa-
tion purists tend to be sceptical, the
SCGI Management makes no bones
that its prime objective is to ensure
the admission of its students into the
country’s too-few high-quality engi-
neering, technology and medical in-
stitutions of professional education. SCGI founders Dr. B.S. Rao & Dr. Jhansi Boppana (circa 2001): extraordinary backstory
And in the fulfilment of this objective
Sri Chaitanya institutions have been college) in 1986 with an initial batch perform miracles, if given high quality
very successful. of 87 girl students mentored by ten schooling and higher education,” says
I N THE IIT JEE ADVANCED success formula was to recruit well- interview p.62).
teachers. Right from the start, our
Dr. B.S. Rao, chairman of SCGI (see
educated, high-quality teachers and
Examination 2021, 125 of the
Dr. Rao’s initiatives in K-12 edu-
Top 1,000 scoring students in
enable teachers to pay individual at-
the open (merit) category in- maintain low teacher-pupil ratios to cation have not gone unnoticed. In
2015 in acknowledgment of the pio-
cluding ranks 1, 8 and 10 were SCGI tention to students. As a result, both neer leadership role that Dr. Rao has
school-leavers. Moreover, of the Top my daughters were admitted into played in transforming the education
100 (all categories — merit, OBC, excellent universities and have suc- landscape of Andhra Pradesh and
scheduled castes and tribes), 71 were ceeded in nurturing and developing Telangana during the past three de-
SCGI students and of the Top 1,000 SCGI into the largest schools chain in cades, EducationWorld conferred its
(all categories), 414 were SCGI grad- Asia. In the process, we have earned Lifetime Achievement in Education
uates. Likewise in NEET 2021 (the the gratitude of millions of parents Leadership Award upon him.
national common entrance exam for whose children were prepared by us Dr. Rao’s formula of hiring “bright
medical colleges), 9 of the Top 20 and to enter India’s best engineering and youngsters” as teachers, training
23 of the Top 100 were SCGI school- medical colleges. Development of them intensively and paying them
leavers (see box p. 58). the SCGI model of school education well (Rs.25,000-13 lakh per month),
Behind the steady growth and which is widely respected in Andhra, maintaining low teacher-pupil ratios
evolution of SCGI into India’s largest Telangana and Karnataka for national and continuous testing for remedial
primary-secondary schools chain is rollout is proof that girl children can education, has paid off spectacularly.
an extraordinary back story. Dr. B.S. Over the past 36 years, the num-
Rao and wife Dr. Jhansi Lakshmi ber of Sri Chaitanya institutions has
Bai Boppana, graduates of Guntur e SCGI management risen to 750 with an aggregate enrol-
Medical College, practised medicine in makes no bones that ment of 650,000 eager-to-learn girl
the UK and Iran (1974-86) prior to re- its prime objective is to and boys. The excellent reputation of
turning to India after 12 years abroad. SCGI in Andhra and Telangana which
“When we settled in Vijayawada, we ensure admission of its has a fast-expanding middle class that
were struck by the low percentage students into the country’s places high premium on professional
of Andhra students — especially girl engineering, technology and medical
children — securing admission into top-ranked engineering, education, generated widespread pub-
high-ranked engineering and medical technology and medical lic demand for backward integration
colleges. This prompted us to start the from junior colleges into K-12 educa-
Sri Chaitanya Mahila Kalasala (junior institutions tion. As a result, currently 321 SCGI

56 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2022