Ryan group focuses on developing the student’s capabilities from a global perspective by instilling self-confidence in order to be able to contribute to community life, says Grace Pinto, Managing Director, Ryan International Group of Institutions, in an interview with Elets News Network (ENN).
From its first school in Mumbai in 1976, today, Ryan Group of Institutions is now a renowned name in the education sector, how is the journey so far?
Establishing India’s premier education brand at par with the global standards was not easy. It involved a vision that has taken the Ryan Group from its fledgling beginnings to soar like an eagle across the globe. By the grace of God who empowered and enabled us to impart value based holistic education, we are able to nurture socially responsible humane leaders.
We are also grateful to every stakeholder that includes our dear students, the staff, parents’ community and all our well-wishers who have been our strong support right from the beginning. Every challenge we faced, presented an opportunity to learn and grow and march forward with greater commitment and determination. Ensuring that all our schools are fine-tuned with the latest trends in education has greatly helped us grow and remain ahead of the curve.
What are the industry-best practices followed at Ryan Group of Institution to nurture students’ innate talent and potential?
Besides being spiritual and value-based, our commitment is to ensure an effective teaching-learning process largely based on holistic development through a relevant child-centered pedagogy. Our objective is to nurture children who not only excel academically, but also beyond academics to become empowered citizens.
With the help of pedagogical experts, our curriculum has enrichment activities that not only focus on enhancing academic capabilities of students but also provide them a stimulating environment that addresses their cognitive, physical, emotional, and social needs. We are helping the students to grow holistically. Our teaching methodologies nurture traits like decision-making, critical thinking and collaboration among students. We help students enhancing their knowledge and skills through hands on and practical learning. The same is ensured through interactive sessions with professionals from different industries. Technology is transforming the practices in education sector.
Our approach is to provide a holistic education to our students. Our journey of four decades has been marked with innovation and pioneering of several significant events to develop leadership and excellence amongst students.
How Ryan group is leveraging the technology for holistic development of its students?
The Ryan Group was the first group of schools to include computer education in the curriculum, way back in the early 90’s. This came from the school’s philosophy of embedding technology into schools. We believe in embracing change and leveraging it to make education more engaging and meaningful. We have partnered with leading edu-tech players like Google, Microsoft in order to support our vision to nurture future ready students.
Also, many of our schools have established NITI Aayog’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) to foster curiosity, creativity and imagination among students. Tech driven teaching methodologies like Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and flipped classrooms make learning student-driven. Further, the Ryan Parent App plays a key role in teacherparent communication.
We have also developed our Learning Management System (LMS) called Personalised Learning and Assessment Tool (PLATO) which is used in many schools. This tool has been developed in collaboration with a leading ed-tech company and gives Ryanites a definitive cuttingedge for board and competitive exams.
How do the schools under Ryan’s umbrella inculcate global citizenship, appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development in its students?
In order to provide a holistic global exposure to our students, we have in place various national and international events that stimulate interest among them to learn beyond the classroom walls. At Ryan, there are structured student exchange programmes as part of the learning process such as Thames Valley Summer School, London; Swiss Exchange; and Theater Werkstatt Zitronengelb, Brixen, Italy.
Ryan Pennhub Partnership allows students a global platform to explore opportunities in higher education as well as summer internships and study programmes. As of now, the Ryan Group sends the largest number of students annually to NASA for their in-house study programme on areas like rocketry and space studies.
We also invite students from various countries to come and spend time with ours to encourage global cultural understanding. Recently performing arts groups from various countries like Czech Republic, Spain, UK, Swaziland, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe camped in our school campuses and spent time with the students helping each other to know about various art forms.
We have created these opportunities for exchange programmes with our international affiliations to encourage Ryanites to travel and be up to date on global ideologies and academic culture.
What are the measures taken by the Ryan Group of Institutions to keep its teachers abreast with the latest methodologies?
The process of learning is not monotonous in our schools. This is mainly because we have adequately focused on the aspect of “train the trainer”. It is true that the role of a teacher has radically changed over the years. We believe that a teacher’s role is not relegated to the sidelines or substituted by the technology instead the role has become even more critical in the current scenario.
At Ryan, we have invested heavily in the professional development of our teachers (both in-house and external) and also work with leading pedagogical experts from all over the world. This is to ensure that our teaching-learning process remains relevant keeping up with the current trends. It guides our students to absorb the “Future Ready Skills” such as collaboration, critical thinking, communication and research.
The process of learning is not monotonous in our schools. This is mainly because we have adequately focused on the aspect of “train the trainer”. It is true that the role of a teacher has radically changed over the years.
How Ryan Group of Institutions is focussing on nurturing life skills along with academics among its students?
Our approach is to provide a holistic education to our students. Our journey of four decades has been marked with innovation and pioneering of several significant events to develop leadership and excellence amongst students. It includes:
International Children’s Festival of Performing Arts (ICFPA) – India’s largest performing art platform with participation from over 20,000 children and 25 countries
Indian Model United Nations (INMUN) – India’s first and largest UN simulation and Ryan TV – where children are provided programmes to learn about media studies, TV journalism, film making and camera handling.
In the field of sports, the group has collaborated with the best in the industry like Mahesh Bhupathy, Baichung Bhutia, Anil Kumble among others, to bring world class coaching to children. Music, art, drama, debates and competitions are a regular feature in our school calendar. Through various events and activities, we identify the unique talents of the children early and ensure these students are provided with right training, support, motivation to develop their talents and skills appropriately.
What is the vision and mission of the school?
Enduring our legacy of shaping lives and developing global citizens, we will continue to live our vision and provide education that prepares our youth to face life’s realities and challenges, while continuing to be lifelong learners, in order to reach one’s rightful place in the modern world. It is our vision to extend Ryan Group’s educational reach to international frontiers as well as to introduce learning opportunities in all corners of the nation. We make every possible effort to reach towns and cities we are not present and also to make education accessible in every nook and corner of the country. We want to remain the “School of Choice” for parents everywhere in the country.
