Dr. Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD and CEO, Kalorex Group, shares her concept of ‘Shroffism’

“Through Shroffism I’m trying to reach to the world and say that all of us are born with innate intelligence, we have the energy within us that we need to tap,” says Dr. Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD and CEO, Kalorex Group, in an interview with Chandan Anand, CEO & Group Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAJaipur #ELSARajasthan

There has been a lot of ups and downs in the whole education sector especially in school education, what are your observation of last three years, pre-pandemic and post pandemic?

Education has become slightly regulated as a sector, so apart from K-12 even preschool regulations we have been talking about it’s also been an area that has attracted a lot of attention, right from the RTE to the NEP. So much happening in education now, as if that was not enough on a policy side, the pandemic threw up different challenges. So, challenges of new age kind of learning because children, they’re too young to adjust to such a big thing and in these two years the ways of learning, the ways of how we can reach out to children has completely changed. It really is no longer what it used to be and devices have become so central to children’s lives that we are actually re-adapting to the New Normal very quickly.

According to you what does ‘New Normal’ stands for?

Many things, New Normal stands for an opportunity for us to do things in a better way. It stands for us to move away from Pure cognition-based learning to multiple intelligences such as mental, physical, social-emotional. I think children are like sponges they will completely absorb what we give them and if we just you know use this one vertical of cognition we are not tapping that entire potential that they’re capable of. So, I think it’s a great opportunity because there’s so much content available digitally, anyways living a digital life shall we refocus and then bring in multiple intelligences and make a wholesome individual.

Any message for teachers and educators for their kids and children at school?

So, the teacher has to first change, they have to change their way of thinking before they can execute, implement or demand change from children what is internal is external, if the teachers don’t believe in what they are doing, they really will not be able to reach out to the students. My request to teachers will be to start being more humane in their approach to teaching and less procedural and transactional ritual, start focusing on more psychology, positive psychology, emotions, the social quotient, the spiritual quotient, the emotional conscience, the physical quotient and of course the mental quotient. But please do not leave out all these quotients because then the product the child will become lopsided.

What is Shroffism? How do you define it?

I believe that there is a greater power on Earth and that is the universal power, which is higher energy. Through Shroffism I’m trying to reach to the world and say that all of us are born with innate intelligence, we have the energy within us that we need to tap, somehow in our rat race call it in our day-to-day existence it talks to us but we push it away it’s time to get back it’s time to talk to our inner voice so that we are completely anchored.

You are the subject of the book ‘Success Mantras and Musings’. Has this also inspired you to become an author sometime soon?

I don’t know really. I cannot commit this now. But, I can see this that we’ll have to write more and more books, because books have a very powerful way of being able to tell a story. I see that what we are talking about new age education, how to teach, parenting is a big challenge. I do a lot of work for parenting, I run a series called conversations for children for teens for pre-teens, I see that we may have to write books like that for actually coaching and hand-holding parents in the New Normal.

In digital era, there is the shift going towards the eBook. We should develop a habit back to read physical books.

I think everything is about optimization. Digital is here to stay, having said that the things which you can teach through theory and practices that fleeting digital cannot do so things have their own perspectives what the digital can do is concede a thought but in order to grow the tree you will need theory and practicals.

Any message would you like to give to the readers who got inspired from reading your book? Any book which you remember you got inspired from?

There are several books that have inspired. It’s a great way to learn by reading biographies.        There are many inspiring stories of industrial people, political people, social workers, or people from royal families, if you read the biographies it will provide insight to life. I think biographies are a great way to learn from others’ lives.

How does certain kind of forums or symposiums help? Where you see the edtech players, the academicians, teachers and even the government people at common platform?

I think it’s a great opportunity. Everybody is a part of the ecosystem, if everybody doesn’t play the role we don’t get a whole. It’s like if by coming here we see the whole pizza, one pie education, which we are, the people who are implementing, there are policymakers who bring in one part of the pie, there are edtech people that really make our lives easy, there are finances that are helping further, then there are school supplies. So unless that whole ecosystem is complete you don’t have the whole pizza to eat. Places like this provide that whole pizza.

Message for the growing ‘ArdorComm Media Group’?

All the very best! I mean it for you and your team, I think in one year you’ve achieved a lot, and may you not only maintain the momentum but maintain the quality, because it is the quality that will drive the momentum. Good luck and all my best wishes.