Aditi Goradia, Managing Director, Billimoria High School, Highlights the Benefits of Residential Schools

“They live with each other, so they’re making lifelong friends as well,” says Aditi Goradia, Managing Director, Billimoria High School, in an Interview with Pratik Ghosh, Content Writer, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2023’ #ELSANewDelhi #ELSAGurugram

How are you feeling to witness the New Normal Education Leadership Summit & Awards in Delhi?

It’s always a pleasure to come to these things and meet all of these educators from across the country, and there’s so much learning and collaborating happening. It’s great.

The theme of our event is India Vision 2030. According to you, what should be the vision for the school education sector?

I think a lot more training for teachers, a lot more growth infrastructure. The framework is already in place, now its time to execute it.

How are you implementing technology in your school?

We don’t use textbooks, we use the learning outcomes document established by CBSE. Our teachers formulate their own curriculum. We have taught the teachers how to use AI tools for their research and to put their resources together. There’s a lot of project-based learning for the kids that requires technology.

Billimoria High School is a residential school, so what importance does it play for a student to stay there and get educated?

So, in today’s day and age, it’s very difficult to balance life for kids because in the cities, it’s very hectic and there’s a lot of device exposure, a lot of device addiction in a very unproductive manner. In a residential school, all of that is a little more controlled. It’s a good balance of co-curriculars and social skills. They live with each other, so they’re making lifelong friends as well. It’s a more learning conducive environment.

What’s your take on skill development in this 21st century?

I think that we are preparing for a world where the jobs we know will not exist, and the jobs that will exist don’t exist now. So, more than content, it’s really important to focus on concept learning. It’s important to prepare kids for a variety of skills and even the NEP says 21st-century skills like collaboration, problem-solving, financial literacy. These are the things we need to focus on with the kids.

In these kinds of forums where we bring in the education leaders, the EdTech players, as well as the government. How does this kind of forum benefit the education sector?

A lot of schools are doing a lot of different things because there’s so much freedom now under the NCF for each of us to figure out what we need to do for our kids. It’s really important for us to meet each other because then we learn from each other. There might be something one school is doing that we haven’t thought of, but it’s something we can adapt to, something we can borrow. And collaborations, it’s very important for our kids to see how our other kids are doing. So, there’s a lot of exchange programs and stuff that come out of these conferences.

Any message for ArdorComm Media Group on its 2^nd anniversary?

Yes, you guys are doing an amazing job. It’s a great energetic team. We love Chandan, we love working with him. So, congratulations, may there be many, many, many more years of doing this.