Interviews

Ajay Gupta is a serial entrepreneur having 34 years of business experience in diverse segments like Education, Edtech, Retail, Healthcare and Multimedia. He is the Founder CEO of leading educational brands—Bachpan play school (in the pre-primary segment having 1200 schools PAN India) and Academic Heights Public School (in the formal school segment having 110 schools PAN India). Interestingly, they don’t have their own play and formal school as they work on FOFO (Franchise owned Franchise Operated) Model. He is also the co-founder of Rishihood University at Sonepat Delhi NCR. He has created a technical arm-Prismart that meets 21st century educational and edutainment needs of children in K-12 segment with digital home and classroom-based learning solutions. Apart from this, he is also a Business Coach and Writer by passion.   What are the steps your schools are taking to complement NEP 2020? To complement NEP 2020, Academic Heights Public Schools (AHPS) are taking steps like designing curricular and pedagogical structure as (5+3+3+4) for replacing 10+2 system; introduction of vocational education; Reforms in our existing assessment system; building equitable and inclusive education for socially and economically disadvantaged segments; Teacher training programs so that teaching and learning involves multilingualism (relatable language of instruction i.e. mother tongue/regional language) and teachers learn new ways of building foundational literacy and numeracy in children. Additionally, we are planning to add Grade 1 and 2 in Bachpan schools by mapping curriculum and associating them with formal schools.   What are the changes, do you think have taken place on the academic and operational side of school after the pandemic? After the pandemic, our teachers, students and administrative staff are more prepared and feel empowered. We have recommended our Bachpan and Academic Heights Public Schools to accept the new Phygital (physical +digital) world and they continue to evolve and adapt with change. We strongly believe that technology is the future and operations must involve digital component wherever feasible. In academics ratio of 80-20 can work for digital and physical schooling.  In administration, increasing role of Enterprise resource software (ERP) and digital safety tools in security have made operations easier with combination of manpower and technology to the tune of 50-50.   What are the benefits of digital media during online classes? Digital media has undoubtedly empowered and facilitated our school leaders to provide uninterrupted learning to our students through online classes. Teaching and learning has become more interactive on digital platforms and given easy-to-use tools to engage students for their holistic development. Flexibility of these modes enable teachers to impart structured and integrated learning experience, share subject related videos, day-to-day assignments and projects. Digital media is not only a bridge between teacher and learner but also a great source of information and edutainment. Students feel free to discuss queries in the class and able to openly interact with teacher.   What initiatives did your prestigious schools carry out to enhance teaching training to deal with learning in the new normal? Bachpan and Academic Heights Public School time to time organize online and offline teacher training programs to create awareness and give them new insights on the new normal. After pandemic, these knowledge sessions have transformed in webinars and online workshops to groom teachers on latest in education with technology. We believe in futuristic education and conduct these trainings in association with leading academicians, subject matter experts and educationists. Teachers get the required academic guidance and are encouraged to participate and discuss the challenges faced in teaching and learning process, prepared to conduct online events and workshops for parents confidently. What are the long-term objectives that you have planned for your schools? Our long term objectives include good quality education and holistic development of children. At Bachpan, all efforts aim at children’s physical growth, mental development and making them formal school ready with technology in education. However, in AHPS, larger vision is to teach life (providing experiential learning, teaching values, life skills and providing platform to showcase talent) to students and make them future ready before they step in the university segment. Traditionally career goals were made after class 12th or even after pressure from peers & family. We have bigger responsibility to help our students in filtering their early career goals.

We have a very different pedagogy in terms of teaching the students says Dr. Bidyanand Jha, Acting Director, Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies, Pune in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group. What does the word New Normal mean to you? I feel new normal is a word which is coined for the covid situation but then I feel its always a normal situation. Now the technology is helping the organizations to make the physical as normal. After sometime you will find that it will be a hybrid model and people will talk about everything normalized. It was sudden jerk to the people that is why we call it new normal because we are not habituated of that certain jerk. When the pandemic hit the world how did your institution adapt to the situation and acted to impart education? We are basically belonging to Kirloskar Group of Organizations so we are very fast is adapting technology and we are a part of legacy and we have a good infrastructure with us. Specially we have a very different pedagogy in terms of teaching the student and we have been collaborating with lot of companies for giving the students the best experience of the learning for management program. However, we were already using certain technologies while we were interacting with the students, while they were on field for some research projects or some projects but when covid came, we were not mentally prepared of the fact that this will only become the source for engaging with the student but we did fairly good job in terms of hiring some technologies and installing some of the technologies to make it a better experience for the students.

We have been getting the best of educationists on our campus virtually and this is an opportunity to collaborate, that’s what Symbiosis is all about says Dr. Sammita Jadhav, Deputy Director, Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences Pune in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. What’s your take on the new normal and how did your Institute adapt to the new normal education? New normal has come up with a New education policy that is what we welcome. We welcome Prime Minister’s vision to establish this in this particular time when India is going through such a turmoil, specially the youngsters that have participated in education at a very early age and they have really not been able to meet each other. However, at Symbiosis Institute of Health Sciences and Symbiosis International University we have been getting students virtually, long before the other universities had. We have developed a faculty development program which is very intense, all the faculties have undergone this even before the students were taught about how virtual classrooms are. I think it is only because of this that students have meet. In fact, at this point of time we are getting to meet people out of India, educationists out of India. We have been getting the best of educationists on our campus virtually and this is an opportunity to collaborate, that’s what Symbiosis is all about. How does such kind of education forums and gatherings help academicians and educators? This is a wonderful opportunity, this is the first time in fact where educationists are meeting face to face after a long time. The collaboration really happens out of the classrooms, out of the board rooms and in between conference bytes. So, this is a very good opportunity for all the academicians and educators.

We could not think that a three-year-old could probably learn from a screen says Sneha Rathor, CEO, Sanfort Group of Schools in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. How do you perceive the word new normal as? I think off course after the pandemic new normal is going to be, like we talk about blended learning, talk about bringing more innovation in the classroom and we talk about that the learning would never stop no matter what comes our way in the future. Earlier we used to always say that technology is going to come in the classroom but we as human beings were not able to adapt to it but thanks to covid because of which all of us were forced to adapt the technology and finally full fledgedly every teacher and every child is now very much a technology prone person and that’s going to be the future of education, that’s going to be a new way for learning which is going to make the children great leaders also and great innovators also. As you are seeing that the situation was not favorable especially for the pre-schools and the schools during this time, under your leadership how did you took this as a challenge and sailed off? When the pandemic hit, just like anybody else we were also taken aback because in K-12s we were of course very prompt to start classes because the teachers were technology prone and the children were also able to adapt technology. But specially for the preschoolers, for the younger kind it was a big challenge for us how to continue the education. We could not think that a three-year-old could probably learn from a screen, but yes as a brand as a leading brand of India, Sanfort took this courage of putting everything online so probably within 20 days we made all our pre-schools around India to online mode. We had our own app, we had also recorded the sessions so that children who are not able to attend classes due to their parent’s busy schedule, they can see the recorded sessions also. So, in whatever way that we could go online we tried everything and it turned out to be really well, I’m really proud that the parents really appreciated the school’s effort.

My vision is to educate each and every child and empower children with the right skill so that they would be employable after completing their education says Dr. S. K. Rathore, Founder, Chairman & MD Sanfort Group of Schools in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. What does the word new normal stands for you? For me, new normal is we need to do each and every thing now physically by following all the covid protocols. Under your leadership how is your group of schools growing, what is the vision statement and post pandemic how are you prepared for this? The journey of Santfort rather I can say the foundation of this venture was done more than 21 years back by my wife, Kavita Rathore. I joined her later so I am with her in this venture for more than 11 years now. She was running two schools and I expanded it to more than 250 schools. So, my vision is that every child in the country whether he or she is from the socially week background or from the village or from anywhere, that child has the right for the quality education. My vision is to reach out to those people, reach out to small villages, cities and everywhere. I want to share I have a branch of my school in a very small village, its just 100 km from Delhi itself and I tell you the kind of response we are getting in that school is much higher than the response we are getting from other schools in Delhi. So, peoples in villages are also willing to send their children to good school for good education but they don’t have that opportunity in their neighborhood. So, my vision is to educate each and every child and empower children with the right skill so that they would be employable after completing their education. When people were not moving out and the pre-schools were closing up, any special initiative which Sanfort is taking? I’m happy to share that Sanfort was the first pre-school to start virtual classes. We started our session well on time, 1st week of April 2020, all of my schools started their session on virtual platform. When the pandemic started and lockdown was announced, no pre-school in the country was having that kind of setup to conduct the classes and no teacher in any pre-school were trained to deliver classes on virtual platforms. Hatsoff to all the teachers, not only the teachers of Santfort, teachers of all the schools across the country, across the world who made it possible to deliver quality education to the children sitting at home because of this pandemic. I believe we have been prepared now for any kind of challenge and this everybody has seen all the people in the country can face any challenge whether it is covid or anything else. How does such kind of gathering, physical event help the academicians and educators where we see the government, corporate and education fraternity all together? The difference which is there on the virtual webinars or seminars and conferences is when you invited me on your webinars there was a point to point discussion. There is no out of the window discussion which is happening, so whatever question is asked on the screen we educators or education leaders have to answer that but there a lot of things to share in between out of the window. So, in this kind of events, physical conferences, we people from the different groups sit together and share knowledge, share what we’ve done, what we are planning and that benefits all of us.

Because of putting so much of hard work during the first three months, now we are seeing the benefits of it said Kanak Gupta, Director, Seth MR Jaipuria Schools, Delhi in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. What does the word new normal stand for you? New normal for me essentially mean that we are going to move ahead with hybrid learning whereby there is going to be a good mix of online as well as in-person learning. For that there is going to be pedagogical improvements happening and there’ll be more collaborations happening across schools, across education leaders that’s what I feel as a new normal. When the pandemic hit and we were imagining how to sail off, how did you think of the teacher training, lecture delivery and sailed off? As an educator and as a leader you have to be predictive and this is very important. I’m glad that we were and we started working on it very early. If you went by the general sentiment everyone thought that in two weeks this pandemic is going to be over and in three weeks we are going to be back in our offices and schools. So, we were fairly early on this, we were running smoothly, now we have 37 schools in tier one and tier two cities so we are well versed with supporting the schools with technology. It took a lot of overnight efforts by the team to put everything together and we ranked ourselves. We said that till the school becomes better equipped we are going to do everything to achieve it and that helped. We created lesson plans we created videos, assessments and everything. First three months because we were putting so much of hard work, now we are seeing the benefits of it, where our teachers are well equipped and the schools are running wonderfully. As we can see that the clouds are clearing now and there is a mandate that there’s an opportunity for the schools to reopen, so how are you prepared? We are following all government norms, I think that very important. We follow very simple premise of SMS, social distancing, mask and sanitization. We are making sure that students are made aware of it. We also understand that students will have anxiety, introverted, we understand they might have forgotten writing, they are not used to sitting and like that but we are paying attention to that. We have tied up with hospitals, we ensure that all covid norms are followed and we are waiting for government to give us more guidance and we are looking forward. How does this kind of gathering and knowledge sharing platform help the overall education fraternity? I think its great and I have been bubbling like a small child all over the places since the morning that I’m so happy to see all our friends from the education fraternity and I think its important that its sending across a message not just to the fraternity but also to all stakeholders, be the parents, be the teachers, be the children that we are back in person and probable hybrid because you know if the third wave comes, I think we are ready. No matter what happens, learning will not stop, India is going to progress. You being in the top leadership team of one of the finest brands of schools, any message to the students from you? My message to the students is that, yes there is a lot of negativity with covid and we feel very apprehensive.  But always remember communication, compassion, keeping calm and keeping clean can help you get sail through all of these. Keep yourselves safe, study hard and don’t worry about only content, think about what you want to do. The world is your oyster go ahead and paint your pictures and you are going to do well in life.

On 20th it was announced and on 26th we were with full setup for giving education and getting connected with our students says Anita Gupta, Principal, Raman Munjal Vidya Mandir in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. What does the word new normal stands for you? Actually, the word new normal is nothing new, it is what you can say breathing differently in a setup where earlier we have forgotten about how life is with the family or with everyone. So now being in this pandemic situation it has shown us the life differently from different angles, being with the family members not within the same circumstances and premises but also actually going beyond. Beyond reaching to the parents of our students and understanding them and their understanding of ours in this setup. So, in that way I consider new normal is as the blessing in disguise.  Under your leadership how your school is growing and what is the vision you are looking forward post pandemic? I think we are already in post pandemic stage because when it came last year as a shock, so though it was only for a while you can say because on 20th it was announced and on 26th we were with full setup for giving education and getting connected with our students. For me and specially for our school the vision is getting connected with our students, with our stakeholders in such a manner which breaks all the barriers, i.e. logical, emotional, reasonable, and whatever help they need. So, we should be available to all of them and that is what we work into 24/7. Any initiative which your school has taken in the teacher training aspects? Yes, our management believes in skilling our teachers since the beginning of its setup in 1992. As it’s a rural development project so our students are from a setup, like from the cities and they are skilled, they are highly qualified and whatever is needed on day to day basis or whatever is coming up new, our management gives the training or appoints such kind of agencies which can train our teachers in the latest perspective. So, our teachers are getting the trainings from the private corporates or from CBSE and from whatever is possible. They enthusiastically do it and implement the same in the school. How does such kind of event where we have the representation from the government and the private association of the schools and a knowledge sharing platform helps the academicians and the education fraternity? It’s actually wonderful because unless and until we leave our own boundaries and we don’t connect with such kind of events then the gap cannot be bridged which is there into K-12 and the higher education system and the industries because each sector has to work together. It is after all the children, they are the leaders for the future, so we have to work together and for that these kinds of events are very important, bringing us together, sharing our vision and finding out that gaps and then brainstorming the different ideas to overcome whatever problems the schools are facing. 

We are moving towards a hybrid model but in months to come I think gradually the online model will fade away and we’ll switch back to our physical education says Dhaval Gaud, Director Marketing, Operations and Business Development, Parul University, Ahemdabad in an interview with Pratik Ghosh, ArdorComm Media Group. What is your take on the concept of new normal in education and how you are implementing that in your University? According to me this new normal concept has brought us lot of concepts, online teaching concept is there, online meeting concept is there and now we are doing physical events like this with limited numbers so actually we are moving towards a hybrid model. But as we are anticipating a third wave in the country we are very cautious but if it goes without any third wave then I feel that gradually the schools will open, the markets will open and eventually people will shed off from appearing online, because online doesn’t have that kind of effect, if I have to explain anything we can just wrap it up in 2 minutes but if I’m online I’ll have to speak 20 minutes for the same. So according to me online or virtual mode has a limitation so we should explore the opportunities with the limitations only. But eventually these things are going to unfold and I’m very sure that we’ll see these kinds of events happening more and more and people would love to come back to the way we used to work earlier. What are the benefits of this online or hybrid model of education? This online model is very much successful in remote areas if you exclude the tier 2 and tier 3 cities. If you want to take education to the remote areas, this is one of the fantastic medium. If you want to take education to the working people like work integrated programs or just like many popular platforms like upgrade are coming up so if you want it for working professionals or for people who cannot move, people who want to upgrade their education but are unable to do it because of their one or other responsibilities, this medium is going to be really helpful for them and obviously it has opened another dimension, another horizon which is going to grow in these coming years but with limitations as I mentioned earlier. How did your university adapt to the online mode of education when Covid 19 just hit the world? Our honorable President Dr. Devanshu Patel of Parul University is a very dynamic leader, I still remember last year when this Covid 19 situation came, he drove himself to my home to discuss the matter. We went with the other stakeholders and he arranged a meeting and he implemented to conduct the online exams using a WSE platform and the amount that was being quoted to us he just spent in five minutes and the decision what he took really helped the university. So as a leader Dr. Devanshu sir has done a great job and because of his vision I think Parul University is doing a commendable or an exemplary work and in years to come I feel as a university stakeholder we are taking right decisions and we want all our students to adhere to the hybrid model. We should not forget that practicals require physical presence so the university first started with online approach but currently the university as per the Government norms are conducting both the modes. We are having physical education also and we are having online mode also, so we are moving towards a hybrid model but in months to come I think gradually the online model will fade away and we’ll switch back to our physical education.

There is a continuous need to upgrade the teaching pedagogy says Dr. R.D. Patidar, Vice Chancellor, OP Jindal University, Raigarh in an interview with Chandan Anand, Founding Editor, ArdorComm Media Group. What are the initiatives under your leadership which your university has taken during the pandemic? OP Jindal University, Raigarh is basically sponsored by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. Raigarh and the initiatives we have taken during this covid period is that immediately we shifted from offline teaching to online teaching. This was one of the new normal which is adopted across the country and during this covid period the entire sector in India as well as the world was impacted highly and education sector was also on the same plate but we came out stronger, superior and better during this pandemic because of our legacy and robust IT infrastructure and the extensive use of the digital platforms. I would like to tell to the education community that there is a need of more investment in the field of digital platforms, to create the digital infrastructure. There is a need to train the trainers, there is a need to train the faculty members and the faculty should be just like a co-learner. There is a need to completely revamp the assessment system the examination pattern, it should be a continuous evaluation system rather than the end term examination. The important thing is that there is a continuous need to upgrade the teaching pedagogy. The most important thing is that we should use the experiential learning, that is learning by doing and the case-based learning. How to bridge the gap between the industry and academia so that we can make the students industry ready, that should be the aim. What message would you like to give to students specifically during these difficult times? I would like to tell the students that they should not panic, this was not only in our country but the entire world is facing this problem. India has already come out from this problem and hopefully as our Prime Minster said, that we need to make this India as “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and one of the most important pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat is the technology driven ecosystem, we have to create and I think the students, the future leaders of this country can play very important role to make this country one of the self-reliant countries.