Gariasi Dutta, Chairperson, The Down Town Group of Schools, Guwahati, Assam, Highlights Future-Ready Learning, Digital Integration, and Holistic Education

We would like to know more about your schools in terms of capacity, student strength, and the new initiatives under your leadership.

At present, we are a group of two schools. One school, The Down Town School, was started in 2022 in Guwahati. The Down Town Gurukul, which is our first school, was started in 2019 in Moranhat in Upper Assam.

The entire purpose of entering school education was to look into the learning needs of students so that they become future-ready when they move on to higher education.

Along with academics, what role does skilling play, and where is digital education heading in your institution?

I’m very happy to say that in both schools, from pre-primary up to the secondary level, we are totally digitalised in terms of the teaching-learning process.

However, as we all know, too much screen time is not good and is currently becoming a public health concern. So, we also try to keep our learning organic through a lot of hands-on activities — in areas such as financial management, sustainability, and community management — through student-led conferences and projects in both our schools.

What role does sports play in your institutions? Is participation based on student preference, or is it also compulsory?

I am very happy to say that for The Down Town Group of Schools, sports is an integral part of our curriculum. We have fixed hours for activities such as swimming, taekwondo, basketball, and football. These are scheduled for all students.

From Grade 3 onwards, students get the option to choose their preferred sport. In fact, next month, one of our students from The Down Town School will be part of the national roller skating team.

That’s wonderful to know. How are extracurricular activities integrated into the institution?

What we have tried to do is maintain a perfect balance between academics, sports, and extracurricular activities in the daily timetable.

For example, if there are two hours of academics, it is followed by a sports class, then maybe a music class or club activities. Because of this balance, during holidays we often receive calls from parents saying that their children want to come to school because they would rather be at school than at home.

We try to keep the learning experience exciting and not just emphasise academics alone.

Are there any specific initiatives in teaching-learning processes and teacher training?

Teacher training is an important part of our institutional culture. Every March and July, we conduct continuous upgradation programmes for our teachers.

As we discussed in the panel about lifelong learning and digital learning, our teachers also take up many online courses as part of their appraisal process. They earn certifications for these courses, and this is a mandatory part of our system.