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“We have to have the proper content prepared in order to establish this research-based learning for the future,” says Dr. D. J. Shah, Provost, Sankalchand Patel University, Mehsana in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Dr Shah would you like to throw some light on the subjects or the streams which your university is into? Ours is basically an only university in the north Gujarat region where we offer Engineering, Medical, Paramedical, Dental Sciences, Ayurvedic everything in a single campus. We are basically based in Visnagar in Mehsana district and because of this multi-disciplinary education available in the campus our students get benefit on the topic that you already have taken into consideration. There is multi-disciplinary education so we have an engineering student an engineering faculty supporting dental faculty and students in building up their projects in their denture related issues so that indirectly helps even during the covid time our team helped Medical College and hospital to set up oxygen set units so that they help the society from the floor whereas we are outside managing all oxygen requirements. So, technically both are helping each other and probably in the future no single degree is going to be used there is going to be a multi-discipline education and knowledge which is going to be the key. How important is research-based learning and where does skill play a role in the regular curriculum of academia? Research based education in today’s context is important but at the same time we have to have the proper content prepared in order to establish this research-based learning for the future. Once we prepare a content then the next important thing is to train the faculty members because see faculties are the key. If my faculties are not good enough to take care of that content forward then all this idea has gone. I gave an example during my panel discussion that one of my faculty when he was teaching me like constant acceleration motion he explained me by saying that can you write down a mechanical equation for a cover, a blank cover which I am falling it freely from the top and second time he put a pencil inside a cover and said now you write an equation see both the motions are different then he gave me certain examples and then based on that example I went to the library studied on something and so these kind of faculty members are also required otherwise this whole concept will fail. Skilling today is important but again when it comes to the skill people always talk about the soft skills but it’s not a soft skill but at the same time a technology related skills today are key along with the value based education because if I have the skill I have the knowledge but I don’t have the value or ethical practices in fact right then also I’m not going to be useful to the society so all this all in all needs to be a single package. We are here together to be a part of New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Award, according to you what is New Normal? See before covid I think we were all reluctant that how online education is going to be, nobody was ready to accept but post covid probably we have seen the advantages of online learning also. So, probably New Normal is going to be the hybrid mode of learning along with the required skills and technology utility for the future generation. If that happens things are going to be different. I’m happy to share that we recently celebrated our first anniversary and this exciting journey was full of excitement, learning and experience since covid till now, any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media Group? Yeah let me first congratulate ArdorComm for completing one year and I’m sure that kind of activities that right now we are doing with this kind of gathering also first time in Gujarat you’ve been able to pick up good officials as well as leaders from higher education as well as schools. So, I’m sure that ArdorComm Media will be able to deliver better things for the society by combination of higher education, societal needs as well as industry need you can do a lot of things.

“Ultimately education has to lead to enlightenment and that enlightenment comes only when you are socially acceptable all across the world,” says Dr. CA Achyut Dani, Director, General & Provost, J.G. University, Gandhinagar in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad As you have been moderating the NEP session today what is the initiative under your leadership, how is your University going to implement it? So, the NEP is basically about enabling people or enabling students and basically University’s job is to see that whosoever comes to the university is either able to self-employ himself or is able to get into the industry seamlessly. So, as JG University what I would like to say is we have a benchmark program called M. Com honours program which is in US accounting and taxation, which is absolutely based on the NEP guidelines and which says that you study for first six months and the second semester onwards you are really on the job. You are on the job at a salary of 25,000 rupees a month for the second, third and fourth semester so just imagine the beauty of the new education policy that it brings what to the student at the end of two years, at the end of the two years student will have a full-time job, 4,50 000 rupees in his bank account and M. Com honours degree so that’s the best thing which we can achieve from NEP. This is just a single program which I’m talking about there are lot many things which we can do using the benefits which are given by the NEP for the educational arena. How important is the industry ready curriculum and skills important apart from the regular education which is going in the system? Industry has to be the focus if you do not focus the industry no education would mean anything to anybody because we have seen that there’s a lot of gap, there’s a big gap between what industry demands and what kind of skill set is available with the students who are studying in the traditional education system. So, there is a gap and we need to bridge that gap until and unless the industries involved, industry orientation is brought in, Industry oriented curriculum has come into the practice we will not be able to solve the problem of unemployment which we are currently facing. So, industry adoption is the basic thing which every University, every higher education institution must look for. Would you like to highlight something about the alliances internationally and it could be led to a student exchange program or a faculty exchange program? So, that has become an integral part of the new education policy now because any good university would need to give an amazing exposure to the students who have come to the university to develop skill. Now it is not about the hard skill, it is about hard skill, soft skill, formal education, informal education too and the kind of exposure a student will get when he travels to other countries, meets other people, comes in the conjunction with other cultural backgrounds and people from different arenas would definitely help him evolve as a better human being. Ultimately education has to lead to enlightenment and that enlightenment comes only when you are socially acceptable all across the world. So, the new education policy has made its way and we are also there to see that this is achieved. So, you are aware that the event name is New Normal Education Leadership Summit and Awards, what does the word new normal stands for you? New Normal is that anything which comes our way has to find its destination, new education policy or anything coming to the education arena now is not new so we have to forget the world new and we have to talk about normal. It is a normal thing that we behave in a way where education is available to all, education is more affordable, it is more open-ended and it is more student-centric. It is more faculty-centric and it is more employment centric. So, that’s the normal thing, that is the part and parcel of education which everyone must understand and implement. You have been witnessing that we have the representation from the government, the private players from the universities, institutions and the edtech players and startup, how does certain forums and symposiums help overall the industries? I’ll be very honest with you, first of all let me congratulate you for arranging this amazing symposium this amazing conclave wherein there was a platform for people like us who wants to talk to people and you know give the message of what is required to be done. It is an opportunity to all of us to express our views, to get it validated from the people. So, let it be the startup ecosystem, let it be the investment, venture capital ecosystem, let it be education ecosystem, let it be administrative ecosystem at all these places we need to come together and these kind of activities, symposium and these kind of panel discussions will definitely prove to be the most fatal in actual and effective implementation of the new education policy as also achieving the educational targets which we have. As you are also a qualified and a senior CA how is a financial planning especially for the academicians like chancellors, vice chancellors should be in implementing or how should they educate themselves to have a good financial planner for a better infrastructure? Not as a chartered accountant but otherwise as a normal human being when I think about this particular question I have to mend my finances before I do anything. So, budgeting is a very important part which every institution, every university everyone should look into before starting or venturing into anything. Finances now as we are most of the

“The adaptability is going to be the life factor for anybody to survive,” says CA Utpal Shah, Director, Amity School, Bharuch; Amicus International School, Vadodara in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad Under your leadership how it has been taking the education and implementing the newest technology in the schools which you are leading? See the phase of pandemic has given us absolutely new dimension to the field of Education as far as the classroom teaching is concerned. Lots of emphasis has been given on the use of technology and internet connectivity. The school did well just because we could adapt ourselves during this pandemic time. With respect to the use of technology and bringing it to the from the classroom to the residences of each and every child. When we talk about the implementation of newest technology in the institute a very important factor which comes to the mind is the financial knowledge of investing right amount into right product, having a finance background how do you manage to inculcate or adopt a technology? I think it is always like whether ‘egg came first or hen’ so I think as an Institute we should invest first in the technology and then we should think about the returns. I am sure once the parents are satisfied with your services they never mind paying the fees. So, cost factor maybe yes initially we might have to invest something but in the long run it pays. Any of the case studies would you like to share during this tough time of two years, how did you manage and sailed off across taking teachers, faculties, parents and students? I must say thanks to the God that we could envisage such a critical situation in the first week of pandemic. We started our online classes on the 1st of April itself that was I think around 23rd of March the lockdown was announced and we could start the online classes within seven days of its announcement so that was the one thing which clicked almost in the right direction for us. We took the Reliance Broadband connections we made the laptop compulsory for all the teachers and classrooms were converted into the studios. So, each classroom was having a 65-inch Smart TV the teachers were bringing their laptops the connectivity was given and somehow, we could reach to the students despite having offline classes within seven days that was I think a crux of the issue. So today we have been gathered where we can see so many schools are here, teachers, academicians are here we can see the edtech players and the startups are here even the government is coming, how does such kind of forums or symposiums help overall education sector to grow and learn? I think over the period of time it has been very transparently clear that one thing which is going to happen is one has to change the way we think. The adaptability is going to be the life factor for anybody to survive. I think the way these people who are coming here and displaying their products is going to be the future of the education. For example, the first presentation which was given was of a classroom acoustic, it has clicked us right so this is something where probably you know the future of classroom or future of school education is going to be so I think it immensely helps all the participants. Sir to share with you we have recently completed our one year of existence, ArdorComm Media was started as a startup and we have celebrated our anniversary, any message or any guidance would you like to give for ArdorComm Media Group? I can’t give you any guidance but I can wish you best of luck you are doing a fantastic job for the school education and maybe for the higher education my best wishes to you.  

“After seeing 16 years of education in this industry in terms of Early Childhood, I’ve been traveling across the country and I’ve seen that it was very difficult to make the parents aware that what is the importance of that first six years,” says Pritam Kumar Agrawal, Founder & Director, Hello Kids Preschool & Riverstone School in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad How do you think the early childhood education reached and what is again a dent which you feel that should be addressed in early childhood education? The thing is when we talk about early childhood education there was a proud moment during this covid times the government of India has recognized us as a part of the foundation years and after these 34 years the Early Childhood has given a space in the compulsory education space which is, it will be a mandatory for the children below the age of six years that they’ll be attending preschools and then mention it in the new education policy 2020 that there should be a part of this Foundation years. Now in the last 16 years it was struggling for us to tell people about how important the early childhood years are. Way back in 2005 when I was doing my first preschool in Bangalore I went to Google and I was checking about all this and when I was doing my research I found that without a right early childhood education there were a lot of problems which has been addressed throughout the world and which even talks about that even without a good early education even a child is going to drop out from the school they may not be attending the schools they may not be attending colleges they may be having criminal records they may be not physically and mentally well for their life. So, after seeing 16 years of education in this industry in terms of Early Childhood I’ve been traveling across the country and I’ve seen that it was very difficult to make the parents aware that what is the importance of that first six years. First six years means the 80 to 90% of the brain develops in between the zero to six years and we have to give that importance. And with this pandemic even we say that with these two years of education we have lost and we have lost nothing but we are going to have a long-term implication for the same thing. Parents are going to face this child is going to face it so it is not that ABCD, it is not that one to ten it is that early foundation level which has to be very strong and coming to a forum like this I thank ArdorComm Media and Chandan and Ashish now that all these platforms are giving us understanding that what is happening across the world, across the nation and what our seniors, mentors talks about in terms of Early Childhood or higher education because we need to upgrade ourselves to the next grade of Education. Also coming to technology in this part yes technology in terms of training, technology in terms of safety and technology in terms of management that is anyway we are all doing it but now after pandemic we are able to see technology in terms of academically how strong we are going to use it in a long year. Be it assessment be it is updating the databases of the child and tracking the child not from a school level to a graduate level or to a career level but yes from the early childhood to that KG that is PG from play group to the post-graduation level how we can have that data and utilize it for the future references so that is how my learning goes. Any message for the people who are willing to have their hands as a business of having a preschool owner what message and or what are the two three pointers which you say when while selecting a brand for taking a franchisee? Chandan it is very clear that preschool was unorganized and even I say 20 to 30 percent of preschool industry is organized in the country right now 2020 data says that this industry is growing at a rate of 30 to 35 percent but not exactly after this pandemic but yes it is a 30,000 crore rupees of Industry which some of the research companies has given and after this new education policy this industry has tremendous growth in this country so definitely this is the right choice. There are a lot of investment we are expecting in this segment. Now who wants to come in terms of business as a challenges new education policy will give another edge but yes regulations will come into picture and even the good quality of schools, new curriculums coming in CBSE giving importance, ICSE coming up with their curriculums will definitely help our industry to grow much faster than any other educational institutes in the country. How does this kind of forums help overall industry to grow where we see the preschool people the school people the technology partners and even the government what is the outcome of such forums or how the outcome of certain forums should be? When we come to you as a delegate or a speaker we are able to meet people from the industry and now not only this part of using the services or meeting our mentors let’s say we all the seniors are like mentors we talk to them this is what we are planning this is what we are doing this we are trying to do they do guide us that there are this product available this is the way you should do so that is first thing is networking second thing is availability of the

“Early childhood education is very important and government has rightly acknowledged it,” says Prahar Anjaria, Founder & Chairman, RANGOLI Group of Institutes; Secretary, AOPS in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad We want to understand how these kinds of events where so many academicians, teachers, educators and ed-tech players come together, what outcome does it bring together? The biggest benefit here is knowledge sharing. Like from entire Gujarat the owners and principals of prominent schools have come together so we come to know many new things when we interact with them. At the same time many ed-tech professionals are also involved here so we can also know about their products. So, three cheers for ArdorComm Media. We are seeing that pre-school education has been included in NEP 2020, what are the long-term benefits of this according to you? That was our long pending requirement which government has addressed. Early childhood education is very important and government has rightly acknowledged it. In the coming days lots of benefits would come from its regulations and serious players will be there. So, I’m very hopeful for NEP and especially for Early childhood education. Would you like to through some light upon Association of Prominent Schools of Gujarat (AOPS)? We have involved the prominent schools of Gujarat in AOPS and the basic purpose was to make a level platform with likeminded schools where they can interact with each other. We regularly conduct teachers training as well as students forums. We work for the betterment of education for the students and the upcoming generations. I would like to inform you that ArdorComm Media has recently completed one year of its existence and we celebrated our first anniversary, any message would you like to give for ArdorComm Media? I know Chandan and Ashish since years, they are a good team. Even in Gujarat very less events take place but the amount of response this event has got is really commendable and I’m sure that we’ll also celebrate the 11th anniversary together and that also in Gujarat.