Interviews

“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.

“We have made separate coordinators for the sections and coordinators are given sufficient guidelines as far as NEP is concerned,” says Vijay Aher, Director, Vatsalya International School, Anand in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad How are you feeling to witness this physical event of New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022? Thank you, Pratik, actually this is a wonderful arrangement by your company and this is the best platform provided for all the educationists to come and share their views. Pretty well the topic was NEP which is a very happening topic these days in the discussions and all the educationists are quite worried after knowing the theories. We are all in the process of discussions about implementation of NEP, so this platform has definitely given a new thought to everyone that yes, we shouldn’t be stagnant and we have to move ahead with lots of new ideas which are already been provided through this platform to share with each other otherwise communication becomes a gap. But this platform has helped us to extend our ideas and thoughts to each other and it will definitely help implementation of NEP and hardly others are thinking on what NEP is and how to implement. All these queries are hardly coming in the regular routine but this platform has provided that opportunity and definitely it will help everyone each one of us being the very eminent speakers and renowned personalities from the Gujarat Board and from other all private schools, directors and Founders are here so sharing the views will definitely help everyone. Would like to understand how the pedagogical framework of NEP 2020 can be implemented in your school? Actually, in my school when it was declared that time pandemic was going on but then when I studied the literature of the policy I found that I shouldn’t be waiting for something to happen from the board side or from the government side then I started working on it. I made my own PowerPoint presentations and last year itself I have conducted two sessions for my school. So, they are almost updated with what NEP is and we are already working also on the various sections which are suggested by NEP like Foundation, Preparatory, Middle School. We have made separate coordinators for the sections and coordinators are given sufficient guidelines as far as NEP is concerned. This kind of events where we bring together the industry and the academia under one roof, how does this kind of symposiums and summits benefit the society or the education community? Exactly it’s a very good question actually, just now I was visiting one of your partners so those ideas I like because I always thought that this echo sound, sounding getting echo in the halls or cinema halls is a very common problem and which is solved by some solutions. Absorbing sounds solution which is reducing the echo but then this problem will come in the classroom I never thought because we never face that such problem can come in the classrooms also. So, I was just going through their stall and understanding the concept what are the solutions they suggest, plus some other of your partners who have already added nice ideas because those ideas are also very important because the school leaders if they are knowing that such ideas are there and their solutions are also available in the market then when it comes to the time of implementation such ideas definitely helps. I’m happy to inform you that ArdorComm Media has recently completed one year of existence so what message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? Yeah, I must be thankful to the organizers first, to be frank with you I was a bit reluctant to come but Mr Chandan called me two three times which made me to attend the session but now I am feeling that after attending the session, decision is not wrong. So, everybody should keep coming to attend such sessions and definitely they are good brainstorming sessions.

“Students can remember for longer time and their interest in studies also will regularly enhance, so with a little control if we can then gamification also is very much useful for extending their logical skill,” says D.V. Mehta, Chairman, Genius Group of Institution & Gardi Vidyapeeth, Rajkot, Gujarat in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad How are you feeling to witness this new normal education Leadership Summit and Awards in Gujarat? I’m really feeling very excited because I can interact with so many educationalists and I am certain few excellent institutions are also participating in this that’s why this particular interaction will be really very much helpful to deal with the new normal especially at this time. As you know the theme of our event is reimagining school education in the 21st century workplace so what are your views on this? See nothing is permanent but change so things are changing so fast and if you cannot keep the pace with the change then definitely will be out of date so everybody needs to and this is the time for the change. India is now really becoming a developed country in all the fields so why not in education so all the educationalists should come forward and really these new changes everybody should accept, adapt and implement in the new education system. What are your views on the gamification of education which is coming up with the AR VR? Of course, when you read, you can recollect 10 percent, when you listen you can recollect 20 percent but when you visualize anything then your retention would be more than 30 percent and many visual learners are there. So, with this particular new technology of AR VR can make the students learning very interesting. Certain concepts which a teacher through like 1D 2D cannot explain properly, say space, planets, anatomy, certain topics, certain subjects. For teachers it would be very difficult to explain but when they will use the AR, VR, or MR even, automatically their job would be easy. Students can remember for longer time and their interest in studies also will regularly enhance, so with a little control if we can then gamification also is very much useful for extending their logical skill. So, for the same also gamification is absolutely suggested but all these things, anything in excess is bad. See this technology cannot replace teacher but this technology can support teacher so being an educationalist we need to understand but of course on the other hand the teachers they need to upgrade and update themselves continuously in their classroom teaching. They also should imbibe these technologies and they also need to update themselves to keep themselves in the new normal situation. These types of events where we bring together the academia and industry together so how does this kind of events benefit the society at large? Of course, it’s a part of Education because see ultimate goal of education is what one of the goals is earning, one of the goals is security or one of the goals is profession, job. If it is so then what’s wrong if education and industry they are coming together. So, this has really helped a lot because when industry and education they will come together they will come to know that what actually on field practically the industries require and what are the current trends are going on because education is a particular segment where process is little slow the change is little slow so at that time all these sort of interaction may help even institution also to upgrade and in which direction they should move that also they’ll come to know. Same way to the industries also they’ll come to know that what are the undercurrents going on in the education, 21st century is of collaboration and coexistence so this collaboration definitely may help the society to really redefine it to really regain it to really upgrade it so it will be a huge benefit to the society also by and large. I’m happy to inform you that ArdorComm Media Group has recently completed one year of existence, so what message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? Really I’m very much happy to hear this, like in one year only in 365 days your speed is very fast it’s really very exciting and the way you are handling the way the company is dealing it’s really fantastic my best wishes to the company, to the all the stakeholders and with such organizations institutions and events we can grow together and in real sense we can say that in 21st century India is booming so my best wishes to the company and to all the stakeholders.  

“The foundational years is in place so the value of foundational years is something that the government has understood now,” says Chirag Agarwal, Founder Director, EarlyVentions – Chain of Preschools, Bengaluru in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad How are you feeling to witness this physical event of Education Leadership Summit and Awards? It’s really feeling very nice we’ve seen two whole years of shutdown we’ve seen things not happening, it’s been a big roller coaster ride for the entire education industry and today when we are here physically gathering, we are communicating, we are connecting with more and more people, networking with so many people so it feels really great, wonderful to be here. What role has NEP 2020 played on the preschools particularly? Well talking about the NEP, it’s been years and years and finally we get to see that kind of a recognition for the early childhood education segment so that’s been the biggest thing that has taken place lately. We are of course waiting for the industry to accept it, we are waiting for the government to actually give us more and more guidelines on how this is going to be implemented in practice so that’s something which we are waiting for but yes of course on a positive note the early childhood education segment which was not at all recognized until date has at least got the recognition. The government has identified it, the foundational years is in place so the value of foundational years is something that the government has understood now. So, looking forward to some major drastic changes in the segment. As you know for the last two and a half years there was a complete shutdown and particularly in the preschool where a crucial role plays of the teacher and student interaction, so how did your chain of preschools ensure to provide education to the students? Right so of course two years of covid was a big learning experience for all of us, there were a lot of challenges initially, the transition basically was a big challenge but yes as educators we should really give ourselves a big pat on our shoulders that yes, we accepted it we went forward, we implemented whatever best was possible at that point in time. Of course, without the support of teachers, parents and all the pillars, so basically what I say is that there are multiple pillars, there’s a pillar of parents, there’s a management, school management, that there are teachers and then these three pillars together raise this child into a beautiful structure in the future. So, what I say is that yes definitely it’s not been an easy journey but it’s been a journey which we had never thought of. I mean who imagined a two-year-old or a three-year-old sitting in front of a laptop screen and learning took place so the schools were physically closed but learning didn’t stop so that’s a big achievement for the entire education industry I should say taking it on a positive side of course yes it had its own challenges we saw that a lot of schools a lot of brands did shut down operations as well the teachers were not able to work as they used to. It was very difficult but yes so far so good we’ve been able to achieve it and we’ve come out victorious so that’s the good thing right. These kind of events and symposiums where we have the industry and the academia together how does it impact or how does it help to the society at large? See there is definitely a lot of impact that is created by such gathering such kind of symposiums being conducted across the nation where we get to meet a lot of people, share ideas, share knowledge, share our experiences. More than that I mean I might be having an experience which you might not be having and you might be having one which I might not be having so sharing this kind of a knowledge is really wonderful and that’s according to me is the best part of any such gathering or conference. I’m happy to inform you that recently ArdorComm Media completed one year of its existence so what message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? Firstly, I would like to congratulate the whole team of ArdorComm Media for completing this journey, I mean definitely it would have not been an easy one for you as well because considering the entire situation the lockdowns and the pandemic which was spread across the world, it was a worldwide problem but my best wishes with you guys, keep doing such wonderful events so that we as educators also get to connect, we get to interact and enlighten each other with our knowledge.  

“I think that change in education is necessary for the development of the nation,” says Manhar Rathod, Managing Director, Shree Gyanguru Vidhyapith, Bhavnagar, Gujarat in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad How are you feeling to witness the event? This event is great, it gives a new vision to the people connected with the education sector. I believe that whatever the topics of discussion you have kept for this event will definitely benefit the future of education and it’ll guide many educators. Now its time for the implementation of the new education policy so it’ll benefit the school owners, principals and the people associated with the education. How is NEP 2020 being implemented in your school? The new education policy is going to be implemented in India after 34 years and I think that change in education is necessary for the development of the nation. In our school we are gradually implementing the NEP. Like till now pre-primary section was not there in the education policy now the government has included it in the education policy and lots of changes has been proposed in the NEP, like 5+3+3+4 policy it’ll bring change to the education system and it’ll benefit the country and the citizens of the nation. How can we ensure inclusive education? We have to update the teachers for this, we have to update the school system, we have to bring a change in our learning material and we have to try to implement inclusive education at every place. How does these kinds of events where we have the presence of industry and academia benefit the education community? Here all your partners have come up with different solutions, like if someone faces challenges with school fees collection so there are some apps, agencies which will be helpful in school management. Also, they have the ERP app for the schools, they are bringing education material for the schools, online platforms are coming. So, I believe that it’ll play a great role in the school management and in the future education system. I’m happy to inform you that ArdorComm Media has recently completed its one year of existence, what message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? What you are doing for the education is really appreciated and I wish that you continue to do this and my best wishes to the company.  

“The schools must together instill on the students to become a good citizen and work for the development of the nation,” says Bharat Gajipara, Chairman, Sarvodya School, Sarvodaya Education Network; President, SFSO, Rajkot in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad What is the vision and mission of the SFSO (Self Finance School Management Association) Rajkot, Gujarat? We have 9000 schools who are associated with us. We try to solve the problem of admin along with the government and ensure that together we transform the academic education. In this association all the schools share their achievements and discuss the new systems and technologies of the education. We conduct different seminars and programs to do so. Our aim is to ensure that children study well and learn life skills as per the new education policy. In the present education system students become machines, we have to build a human being and instill empathy, make sure they learn the languages well. When children will have sympathy then it’ll benefit our nation. The schools must together instill on the students to become a good citizen and work for the development of the nation. You must also organize these types of events quite often so that everyone comes together and discuss for the betterment of the education. What is the importance of sports in the school education specially when during covid we shifted to online and digital education? Sports plays a very crucial role because if our health is fine then our mind will be fine. It’ll help in the mental growth and bring in a lot of energy in a child. So, sports should be given due importance in schools. The more there will be experiment in terms of technology and along with different activities the more it’ll benefit the child. I’m happy to inform you that ArdorComm Media has recently celebrated it’s first anniversary, any message would you like to give to ArdorComm Media? The initiative ArdorComm Media has taken and the event you have done here, I wish you continue to the same again and again. We have learned a lot from this summit through knowledge sharing and I wish more and more people get associated in these types of initiatives in future.  

“We are a forward-looking organization and we think that teachers are our core and by implementing the best available resources, by implementing the best available technology we think that we definitely can make a lot of impact in the Indian education system,” says Anantha Krishnan B., CEO-Operations, Kalorex Group, Ahmedabad, Gujarat in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group at the ‘ArdorComm New Normal – Education Leadership Summit & Awards 2022’ #ELSAGujarat #ELSAAhmedabad You having such a renowned institution under Kalorex brand you have DPS also and other institutions what is the vision and the mission behind taking this league forward in implementing the school educations across Gujarat? Well thank you for this opportunity in fact Kalorex is a 27-year-old organization in the field of Education founded by Dr Manjula Pooja Shroff who is a visionary, a President of India awardee. Dr Shroff’s vision is very clear that she wants to reach out to every section of the society to give the best of education to whatever best possible way. She’s a very forward-looking lady in terms of she tries to implement anything and everything that comes new into the technology segment new into the academic segment, upskilling, reskilling. So, we are a forward-looking organization and we think that teachers are our core and by implementing the best available resources by implementing the best available technology we think that we definitely can make a lot of impact in the Indian education system so that’s the primary objective of the organization. We are 40 plus institution group right so we run preschools, K-12 schools under the brand name of Delhi Public School and Calorex Public Schools and Calorex International Schools and we also have a online initiative called as eKal which is an anywhere learning platform wherein we integrate the best use of technology along with the contemporary teaching styles and we also provide skill development and other required fields which a professional today in the working environment would require plus we are also into the animation segment right so we have something called as the Yali animation series, it’s live on the MX Player for kids so Yali is a mascot, it has got a few characteristics which we believe that every child and every teacher should imbibe into so that’s what the idea behind Yali. Covid was a tough time for everybody across the country but then we being a visionary in terms of being in the forefront of education we were one among the initial implementers of online learning and online technology so our schools are doing fairly well in that particular segment. And we also are doing a lot of new I should say research across how to imbibe technology in a better sense and into a more inclusive and immersive way in the classrooms. As you have been a part of many events before as well how does this kind of gathering where you have the technology partners, the academicians and even the government, support in overall development of a society of education? See any forward movement that you look across in the society today has to have multiple pillars, so all the pillars you just name, government is one pillar the institutions are the second pillars the technology partners are the third pillars so it’s a combined and a collaborative effort. The Indian government is a visionary government so they’re trying to bring in the new NEP the new stuff in learning, the edtech partners are trying to bring in the best of technologies and we are the institutions we’re trying to adapt these technologies and ultimately, it’s the learner who is going to benefit so that’s the primary idea. So, all segments are looking forward towards the initiative like the one that you have done today as an initiative to bring in all these partners together. It’s a fantastic initiative I think Ahmedabad of late has not been seeing much after covid so I think you are one among the forerunners to bring this event to Ahmedabad I thank you very much on to it and I congratulate you for this beautiful event and looking forward for such beautiful events in the future too. Just to inform that we have recently completed our one year of existence and our first anniversary was being celebrated recently, any message would you like to give for ArdorComm Media Group? ArdorComm is a team of young entrepreneurs and edupreneurs so keep up the good job. You’re doing a fantastic job I’ve been into a couple of events of yours, your speakers are really good they talk a lot of varied subjects the ideas and the information that you gather across these events are really fantastic. Keep doing your research and do this wonderful job thank you very much.