Children Should Have The Rigour To Learn By Themselves

Padma Bhushan awardee Mungtu Ram Jaipuria was a visionary and nationalist, who decided to start an education institute in Calcutta during the pre-independence era. While witnessing the growth of the industry in a big way post-independence, he believed that children should be equipped with appropriate skills. He opened the Jaipuria College in Calcutta in 1945, which presently has over 5,000 students.

Subsequently, his son, Rajaram Jaipuria expanded on these group activities and set up industries, mostly in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where he focused on building communities and creating a positive societal impact. He opened schools, colleges as well as preschools in different regions.

And now, Shishir Jaipuria carries on this legacy, growing the brand and spreading the message of holistic learning and education throughout the nation. He shares insights to his journey and growth in an exclusive interview with BW Businessworld. Excerpts:

What kind of changes and growth has the group witnessed under your leadership?

I have been actively engaged in school education for the last 10 to 12 years. We have opened a number of schools and have expanded our reach into tier two and tier three cities with the help of partner schools.

We have also delved into management education to better equip children to start their careers within the best organisations. A new venture that we started just two years back was focusing on teachers training because we felt a dire need for the career development of teachers.

In the last few years, our focus has been more on digitisation. As technology is rapidly progressing, we felt that each person should be encouraged to adapt to the latest pedagogical intervention that is required, whether it is the teachers, parents or students.

What plans do you have for future growth?

We are far more focussed on quality. The quality and access are very important and we feel that some schools, whether they are in remote places or rural areas, do not have the right access in terms of technology. We started with the Uttar Pradesh government, providing free teacher training on information communication technology (ICT) as we believe education is a social act.

We are also focusing more on environmental aspects as environmental conflict and challenges are increasing globally. We want the child to be sensitive towards climate change and play an active role.

On the horizontal expansion, we want to ensure that the children should learn the 21st-century skill sets that are required, which would mean communication skills, global leadership, critical thinking, collaboration and teamwork. These are essential elements as the future is unknown. A child who comes to us at a pre-primary or primary level stays with us for 10 to 14 years. We do not know what the future will be like at the end of their education. Our goal is to teach the skill sets that are required for the next 20 years after school.

Having said that, we also place a lot of importance to social-emotional learning because we have seen so much tension and anxiety around the unpredictability of what is happening in society. The child must learn to be compassionate, empathetic and caring. They need an overall development so they can learn by themselves. For our vertical expansion, we have entered into preschools and are now thinking of going into undergraduate programmes. So, we are trying to cover the whole ambit of activities.We also believe that for a school it is important to look after the whole ecosystem, not only the children, parents, teachers or the administration.

What impact has FICCI Arise had in your time as Chairman?

FICCI Arise, working under the aegis of FICCI, is essentially a body which consists of members from the school community. We have more than 2,000 different schools with a strict code of conduct and ethics which they have to follow. Our primary role is to engage with the government both at the central level, whether it is the Ministry of Education, NITI Aayog, Prime Minister’s office or with state governments in relation to policy matters.

We do a lot of research work in different fields, such as engaging with CBSE with regard to assessment, finding best practices that should be followed within schools and taking delegations overseas to understand what can buy from them in terms of technology and newer practices. Through this we have brought out a report on the liberalisation of education.

While there appears to be a huge requirement for schoolchildren, the supply side has been missing and the government has a constraint with regard to resources. We decided to bring a position paper to help understand the gaps in supply, how it can be mobilised and what role the private sector can play while engaging with the government.

Furthermore, in light of the Covid 19 pandemic, we observed the need to upskill and train teachers on the new technologies and apps, most of which are available free of cost.

Where do our challenges lie with NEP 2020?

The National Education Policy is a very progressive document and with proper implementation, it will be a game changer for the education industry. There is a deep focus on early childhood, a segment we have not been focusing on despite knowing that 85 per cent of the brain develops by the age of six.

Skill level is the other important factor. We have observed a substantial increase in the gross enrolment rate in Class I. However, the dropout rate is also significantly high. Only 55 to 56 per cent of students complete Class XII. There has to be some methodology or system wherein students who drop out can pursue different types of skills. Those skills must be identified. There is a lot of infrastructures available both in the government and private schools that can be leveraged in developing core skills such as communication, digital and other skills that can make them employable.

Earlier we only measured the intelligence quotient of students; now the emotional quotient has also become important and soon the digital quotient of the child will also be talked about. Beyond all three, health and wellness is also equally important. After all, what is the purpose of education if you are not able to stay healthy? As long as the child is happy, the learning will be much more impactful.

The essence of the policy lies in the effectiveness of the teacher. If the teacher has the right skills, the impact they will create will also be very effective. As far as administration goes, the main focus should be on academics and the day-to-day administration should be left to the people who are in the administrative team.

Please tell us about the teacher training academy.

This was initiated two years back. When it comes to teacher training there is a lack of understanding of what should they be teaching. The focus is on pedagogical interventions. We teach them to understand what should be the learning outcome and then evaluate it at the grassroots level, making certain whether that outcome has been achieved or not.

There is so much content available today, the key is to make the right content more engaging. We need to recalibrate classroom observations to see how impactful that teaching has been. In life, everyone requires a coach and it is important to give teachers feedback on their teaching methods. This gives a lot of time and opportunity to teachers to reflect to be able to do something more creative and engage students in a more participative manner.

What is the need of the hour for the education sector right now?

Even at a school level, we are trying to collaborate with industrial partners, because skills will become important. There has to be scope for to be internships at the school level so that the students get exposure and learn where and how to upskill themselves.

Career counselling can give a lot of opportunities both in the digital space and also in the physical space. It is not necessary to have a graduate or post-graduate degree. It depends upon one’s own interest and it is important to make students aware of the opportunities available in areas of their interests.

Where does your passion for education come from?

My family felt that this is a social need. My grandfather and father have been passionate about it and I have seen the huge transformation that is taking place. When I meet my former students, they feel so happy that they’ve studied at our institute.

For a teacher, the biggest success is seeing their students feel proud of the education you have imparted to them. That is a great motivational factor for me. What we are doing is creating tremendous opportunities for students and there is still an endless amount of work to be done. Education is something that will continuously evolve and create new things. Without pushing, nothing happens.

What is your philosophy on education?

I want the children to be happy. Having said that, they should have the rigour, the ability and motivation to learn by themselves. Children themselves are learning so much today that at times they challenge the teachers and it is good.

When it comes to teaching, people sometimes ask me: whom do you want to hire? I say I want to hire a person who makes me redundant. So, I want to hire the best of people in the teaching community who make me redundant. Therefore, they have to be empowered, enthused and excited. Considering the transformation that is happening, I think it is a fascinating time for India. Everybody all over the world, whether it is in education or industry, wants to come here. The NEP 2020 has the right vision. If we miss the bus this time, it will be very unfortunate but I am optimistic about the future.

Vasudha Mukherjee

BW Reporters The author works with BW Education