Technology is a tool for steering education towards creative thinking, opines Adilakshmi C, Principal, Oakridge School, in conversation  with Rozelle Laha

Please share with us the school’s initiatives.
Oakridge continues to be in tune with time and we strive to incorporate the techniques useful for the children to have effective  learning. We train our teachers continuously. And the best schools are those that have continuous upgradation of their teachers  through the training processes as they are the facilitators of imparting knowledge in the classrooms.

Why did you shift from a CBSE school to being an International school?
Since the inception of the school, we wanted to have a smart school and make technology an important tool for teaching in the school. The school has the best smart classes, multimedia and computers and equal emphasis is laid on training the teachers in using the technology effectively. The school has seen a shift from blackboards to whiteboards, and the children have access to laptops and tablets.
The assignments are sent to the students in advance and some teachers also do flipped classrooms. The teachers record the lessons  and send them to the children. The children watch the video of the lesson at home and have a fair understanding of the topic when they come to the classroom. Thus, the teaching method changes from teacher-centric to discussion-centric. In the flippedclassroom-style  of learning, the time in class is used for discussions among the children and teachers.
The children are able to connect to other children in the world through Skype. With the availability of the Internet, children are taught  the concept of framing the right questions so that they can search the right information from the Internet.

How do you see the future of school education with the advent of ICT tools?
The most important thing in education is that the children should learn and understand the core content of the lesson. They should  acquire the domain knowledge without any hiccups.
In the near future, the change will happen in the delivery of the knowledge to the children. There are various types of learners in the  class and technology helps them in learning effectively.

How often should technology in e-Learning be upgraded?
Technology needs to be upgraded so that the children get more opportunities to inculcate creative thinking. The children should have confidence and should learn to communicate well. Technology gives them a medium to express themselves and explore the depth of their inquisitiveness. Technology has to be continuously upgraded to keep pace with the requirement.

Please tell us about your teachertraining programmes.
We put a lot of effort in building our faculty. The teachers are always in sync with the latest pedagogy techniques and philosophy of the  school. Thus, they are able to deliver effective learning in the classroom based on these principles. All teachers have to undergo mandatory hours of training on the effective use of technology deployed in the classrooms.

How can we bridge the gap between the government and international schools in terms of technology deployment?
The awareness of computers in CBSE and government schools is rapidly rising as they have also come to realise the importance of using technology in their schools. With the launch of Akash tablets, the deployment of cost-effective solutions in education will come  forth so that everyone can benefit from the use of technology.

“No teacher training programme is customised for any particular institution. If the aspirations of an institution are high, they have to encourage their teachers,” says Seetha Murthy, Principal, Silver Oaks School, Hyderabad, in conversation with Rozelle Laha

Please tell us about special feature of Silver Oaks School?
We, at Silver Oaks, believe that the character of an individual comes first and then comes competence. Today, after seven years, I can  say proudly that all the 2,000 students and 200 teachers we have are very responsible in terms of their approach towards life. In terms of competence, I would not mind if you are weak in a particular subject, but I would want you to be a risk taker and work harder  on in subject.

What made you to make a move towards International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum?
There is a special philosophy behind it. IB concentrates more on a child’s profile; it is child-centric. Also, there has been a phenomenal transformation in the school after that. We did not move to IB to get the international tag.

How have you implemented ICT in your education model?
We do not have very high tech gadgets in the classrooms, but every classroom has a system and Internet access. The teachers use it to  show the world to the children. We do not have textbooks, as there is no prescribed curriculum. We strike a balance between the  curriculum and the methodology. In the classrooms, the teachers and the students form a small group and find out how research in scientific phenomenon works in countries like Australia, Switzerland etc. The monitor is used to stimulate the audio visual sense of the education.

Today’s students are more technologically advanced as compared to the teachers. How can this gap be filled? 
Students have their own websites these days. A lot of them know how to upload videos too. So, there is a lot of gap between the  children and the teachers. It may be a generation gap, but technology has definitely accentuated their learning. We also give time-to- time training to the teachers in a softwareoriented format for teaching in classrooms.

There is a lack of quality teachers’ training programmes in the country. How can the schools address this problem?
You cannot find the best skilled people anywhere in the world, be it a school or any other institution. When we interview a teacher, we only look at his attitude towards learning and his openmindedness.

We should stop complaining that we do not have enough trained teachers. The teacher training colleges that train the teachers to cater  to the present generation are in reality, imparting training only to teach the students of 1980s. There is a lack of teacher training  colleges to make the teachers ready to teach in the present day schools. Schools should train the teachers according to their needs.

The process in India education needs to change to empower the academician to validate everything. Currently, it is the clerks and  bureaucrats who are empowered, opines K S Muralidhar, CEO, Learnsmart India

How do you visualise modern education? What is the way ahead with the help of digital tools?
For many reasons, education in this era can only happen with digital tools. One is the lack of training the teachers. Digitisation of learning is required to learn or assess or learn through assessment.
We learn through assessments. So how do you assess what you have learnt? You learn, but you don’t know how much you have learnt. That’s why our tagline is: ‘Do you know how much you know?’ If I know how much I know, I can take the next step forward.

How can we rectify ourselves through the learning process?
You need to know where you are going wrong at every stage and what the shortfall in the learning mechanism is. The online system that we have developed tells you on the spot the mistake you’ve made and the way forward. So there will be no backlogs.
In the Indian education system, there are many backlogs. For example, if you’ve been taught a chapter, before you understand that  chapter completely, you’re already being taught the third or fourth chapter. The aim of the teachers is to complete the syllabus. There should be no delay or spoon-feeding.

Today, if the teachers are at 1.0, the students have reached 3.0. How do you think this gap can be bridged?
Today’s generation is computer-savvy and much more advanced than the teachers when it comes to technology. But, the teachers who graduated years back will have to change their mindsets and logic to understand the challenges ahead of them.

How has the model you have created resolved the problem of power in India?
Necessity is the mother of invention. We analysed that even the best content and self-analysis reports would be futile if we did not reach to a school. Even today, most of the schools do not have power. We branded our product as 24X7guru.com, aiming at giving  green labs with clean and green energy to schools 24X7. And for students, it’s a full cycle of learning on alternate power.
If you are waiting for power to be generated, it will take about 15-20 years. Solar and wind power are recognised worldwide. We only need to have a standalone system. One kV power is enough for a school with 10 computers and lights. That would need a bare  minimum investment, and can go on for at least 10-15 years.

Please tell us a little more about the model.
In the project, we will have energy efficient computers. The computers that we generally have consume because they consume up to 150 watt, whereas the energy-efficient computers will take only 25 watt. And using LED lights means saving more power. If we don’t  use energy-efficient computers and lights, the energy consumption will go up to at least 5 kV. To generate more power, the capital cost  will increase.

What is the cost of implementation? 
We should be able to generate 1 kV power in `7-8 lakh. This is enough to power at least 4-5 computers, LED lights and fans.

Please tell us about your ongoing pilot projects.
We visited Navodaya School in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, to test the project. It is completely green and has 20 energy-efficient  computers. Today, the school is not paying a single rupee for its power consumption. The government of Assam has also asked us to do  this as a pilot project in 10 schools in the state. If this model is successful, all the panchayats will be connected properly and e-Governance will happen.

Which state governments have you approached for this?
We have approached the government of Andhra Pradesh and they have shown a positive response. They have also sent a proposal to  the government of India for fund sanction. If our project in Assam is successful, the project will be implemented in at least 400  schools.We are approaching other state governments also.

There are e-Labs in the NKN model of exchanging knowledge. What is your opinion on that? 
Technology is moving at a very fast pace and the level of collaborative learning has come up. 24X7guru.com will be on that platform.

EDITORIAL
A Digital Paradigm for Education

GUEST EDITORIAL
Funding Higher Education

CONTRIBUTORY EDITORIAL
Higher Education in AP Up for  Change

INTERVIEW
Implementing ICTs will Make Education System Wholesome
Prof Ramakrishnan Ramaswamy, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad

ODL Makes Learning Flexible
Dr P Prakash, Vice Chancellor, B R Ambedkar Open University

Students Should be Taught Employability Skills
S Sampathy, Deputy CEO, Siva Sivani Institutes

Glocalising India
Sri Krishna, Managing Director, Birla Edutech Ltd

Pre-Schooling Takes a Giant Leap
Priya Krishnan, CEO, Klay Schools

K-12 INTERVIEW
Educating Beyond the Classroom
Kavita C Das, Principal, St John’s High School, Chandigarh

Competence Follows Character Development
Seetha Murthy, Principal, Silver Oaks School, Hyderabad

Technology Enables Effective Learning in the Classroom
Adilakshmi C, Principal, Oakridge School

Colossal Growth Awaits K-12 Space in India
A K Agarwal, Director, DRS Group

Constant Improvement is the Biggest Challenge
Dr K T Mahi, Chairman, Sree Group, Sreenidhi International School

Education is All-Compassing
Nancy S Nanavaty, Academic Director, Phoenix Greens International School

Towards a Holistic Education System
Prashant Jain, Founder Director, Pathways Group of Schools

Preparing Students for Future
A Murali Mukund, Secretary, Jubilee Hills Society & Chairman, Jubilee Hills Public School

Quality Education should be Accessible to All
Anirudh Gupta, CEO, DCM Schools

K-12 GUEST ARTICLE
Indian Education Needs to Hit the Bull’s Eye
Dr T Venu Gopal Rao, Academic Director, Fusion International School, Hyderabad

CORPORATE DIARY
Enhancing Higher Education
Akshat Srivastava, Managing Director, Enhance Education Pvt Ltd

Kudos to Inspirational Teaching
Meena Ganesh, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Pearson Education Services

ACADEMIA SPEAK
Every Educationist Should be a Change Agent
Dr V K Swamy, Principal, St Joseph’s PG College, Hyderabad

EVENT REPORT
TAISI Conference Decodes the Language of Learning

INDUSTRY SPEAK
Skill Development for Higher Education
Dr Haresh Tank, Director, Station-e Language Labs

Surging Demand for e-Learning Solutions
Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

CORPORATE DIARY
Affordable Smart Content for Digital Education
Ivan Vazquez, Country Director, Netex  Knowledge Factory

Green is the New Mantra for Indian Education System
K S Muralidhar, CEO, Learnsmart India

SPECIAL FEATURE
Gateway to Education Mpowerment through Technology

POLICY MATTERS
We are Capable of Providing World Class Training in IT Related Subjects
Ponnala Lakshmaiaha, Minister of Information Technology & Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Right to Education The Way Ahead
K Parthasarathy, Minister for Secondary Education

“KLAY Schools is making balanced growth a culture for its pre-schoolers,” says Priya Krishnan, CEO, Klay Schools, during her  conversation with Mansi Bansal

Please give us a brief about KLAY Schools.
KLAY Schools are a chain of high-end preparatory schools that cater to preschoolers between the age group 1-10 years, provide day  care and after-school services setup by VBHC Education Service (VES).

According to you, what distinguishes KLAY from other pre-schools?
Our focus is on the quality of care providers. We also have early childhood trained teachers who know how to deal with children in  their early childhood days.
We also consult psychologists to frame the curriculum. This team comprises of people who have worked in the US, Singapore, and  Korea, in child psychology and knows what behavioral hassles are and how to deal with them.
We follow a multiple intelligencebased approach. When a child comes to us, we make him go through a regular schooling system. We  use primary learning styles so that the children are able to understand the materials teachers use in the school.
Parents choose our school because we believe that school is a community of parents and they also have a say in how their children are  educated and taken care of.

What are the different digital solutions used in your school?
We use iPads. There are a lot of applications for kids that make things interesting and easier for children to learn. We have digital  boards also but we do not use digital content. We use these boards for growth and skill development. The children today are technology freaks, so taking them away from these things does not make any sense. KLAY applies the multiple-intelligence teaching approach that encourages individuals and focuses on team-based learning. It also uses teacher- and child-directed activities and ICT  to teach various concepts.

How do you see the market of KLAY and other play schools in the coming years?
Currently, we have more demand than we can cater to. We believe that we should not compromise on the quality and hence the slow  pace. We can open 10 schools in place of one, but we want to get the right kind of people and all the other things too. The market is  very fragmented. Our attempt is to really see how we can create a good structure which can replicate itself across the nation.

What is your primary focus as a school and as a provider of day care facilities?
We are the day care that provides schooling services. We do have kids who come from school. We concentrate on stimulating the child  positively through different activities and structured learning. You cannot be a day-care provider without these things in the system.

What about your expansion plans?
We plan to be in all the major markets where we have our corporate edge like Delhi-NCR, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad,  etc. The day-care market emerges in the bigger areas. We do not have a franchise model because we do not think that we would be able to maintain the quality aspect of our school then. The capital requirement for expansion is not an issue for us.
We had made four in the first year and we would look to do another eight or nine this year and then we would plan to do 100 in five years’ time.

What training model have you adopted for the teachers? 
We have our training team that goes to train our teachers for six weeks within the centres. Our mode of training is also not only  theoretical; we have quite a lot of innovative activities too. We record what is going on in the classrooms and then we use that for  training our teachers.

How have you planned the day for your day care activities?
Here, the children do three hours of schooling from 9 AM to 12 noon. At 12, they have their lunch, and at 1 pm, they are put to sleep.  They sleep for two hours and from 3 pm onwards, they have outdoor play and other activities like reading and yoga. By 6 pm, they are ready to leave. You will be amazed to know that we don’t find difficulty in handling the children for so long everyday because children  learn by seeing each other.