I am a firm believer of the power of education but as a parent, it often baffles me that despite trying our best are we giving our children the right kind of education to make them strong worthy citizens of tomorrow? Similarly, if I think as an educator who runs an academy to impart the kids, the vital 21st Century Skills like Public Speaking after school, I feel there is something really significant lacking in today’s Indian Education system which calls for a paradigm shift. A child’s holistic personality development should happen at his school and he must enjoy the leisure and free play in the time remaining.
The schools must aim at knowledge beyond books and should yearn to inculcate life skills and problem-solving methods to raise confident kids. A couple of days ago, as I attended the launch of the first company-owned company operated Billabong High International School in Pune, this topic remained the foundation of our meaningful discussions, throughout.
Of course, I loved the state of an art, extremely inspiring infrastructure they have built in a whopping 2.25 acres in Amanora Park Town in Hadapsar, but was has impressed me the most and has stayed with me is the school’s founder Lina Ashar’s vision and mission in life. Born in Australia and brought up in Britain, she first took up a teaching job in Australia. In India for a sabbatical, she was aghast to see the plight of education in here and started Kangaroo Kids Preschool 1993 to introduce international best practices in education to India. When her vision to impart holistic education to as many kids as possible culminated she started Billabong High International Schools in 2004 and so far opened 30 of them in India and Maldives.Thanks to her efforts KKEL has become India’s No. 1 Most Trusted Education Brand (TRA’s Brand Trust Report – India Study 2019, 9000 brands across 16 cities).She has been felicitated with numerous awards for her work in the field of education and envisions to touch the lives of more than a million kids in a positive way.
She has dedicated her life to change the face of education in India and has a dedicated R&D Team who works on the integrated curriculum for the kids absorbing the best of all worlds plus adding their own expert views to it. It was extremely heartening to have a one to one candid talk with her on the innovation she desires to bring in the Indian education scenario and her passion and zeal for the same are extremely impressive. She has done an impeccable job at securing the best education modules are imparted to Billabong High Kids irrespective of the teacher who is imparting them( as attrition is beyond her control and she can’t sabotage the learning of the students). She and her team have introduced a personalized learning app “Skippytech” for pre-school kids and digital learning platform “Billabox” for Grade1-8 kids which is revolutionary in terms of it aiding each kid to learn at his own pace.
I loved the fact that Billabong High values life skills and practicality over bookish knowledge and doesn’t compare kid to kid and instead grooms each kid to become a North Star in the field of his choice. Their best practices are worth emulating and if you reside the Hadapsar side in Pune, I would recommend you to check out the school with very fine infrastructure and even finer well researched educational modules. You can contact them at 8291158390.
Education is the best investment we must make in our kids and it should never be short of the best. The children should be trained with the 21st Century Skill Set right in the school which is their second home without the need of any after-school sessions desired.
If you like what I write, you can grab the copies of my four published books here: The Fragrance of True Love, Destiny's Favorite Child, Dare to Defy The Destiny and Empowered Women Empower Women
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