We Have Incorporated STEM In Our Day-to-day Learning

Bal Bhavan Public School Delhi, was among the schools awarded in the ‘Innovative School of India’ category during the Top Education Brands Awards of BW Education. Principal Vividh Gupta describes some of the measures on the ground to ensure that students are able to implement the knowledge they gain in real life. Excerpts:

What have been some key innovative steps incorporated in pedagogy in your school and what has been the impact?

At Bal Bhavan, quality education is the haven of all initiatives. Serving Education is of prime importance to us. The school leaders and educators explore and tend to incorporate the best of all practices around the world, to deliver education at its best.

Our idea is to make our students independent and practical in implementation of the knowledge attained. Therefore, experiential learning has sought to serve as a firm base of our system of education at school. We ensure that our students get enough experiences of the concepts taught to them so that they can apply their abilities and competencies in fruitful implementation of the same in their day to day lives. We have integrated art as our functionary element while teaching important and complex concepts to the students. Art seeks to help understand things better creatively and encourage better understanding of the concepts. Global citizenship programme is yet another innovative step to instigate, encourage and motivate our young learners to be leaders of tomorrow who could bring about the change while sustainably leading the world.

How is the school’s approach towards innovation aligned to what the NEP 2020 envisages?

In adherence to the aspects introduced in NEP-2020, the school has been propagating and practising innovations even before they came to be understood all around. Joining hands with Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and NITI Aayog, we have incorporated STEM in our day-to-day learning. Our students become part of ATL marathons, Youth Ideathons, science symposiums and seminars, developing a key interest and critical thinking about the scientific world. For the past three years our students have been contributing innovative ideas to Youth Ideathon organised by IIT Delhi and have been reaching to be final top 10 ideas receiving incubation grants from IIT Delhi. In regular ATL sessions our young minds are triggered to think beyond the box and innovate something revolutionary.

In bringing about changes, how do you ensure that the teachers, and also the parents of students, are on same page?

Through a comprehensive ERP system and Microsoft Teams platform, the school aims to keep students and parents in sync with school ideologies, new incorporations and important information. Regular student parent teacher’s meetings and meeting schedules ensure that parents are kept informed about their wards progress and performance. We allow parents to interact with their child’s mentors through ERPs or Microsoft Teams or through appointments after school to solve their queries.

Different learners have different needs. How are these needs of diverse learner group addressed while bringing about innovation?

Bal Bhavan diligently follows inclusive education. To address diverse learning needs, we ensure that educators incorporate and design assessments according to various learning abilities of students. We have special educators to help children with special needs. We offer various skill subjects to address the learning needs and abilities of our students. Through remedial classes and simplified assignments, our educators ensure that all our students progress and grow in terms of academics.

Meha Mathur

BW Reporters The author works as Senior Associate Editor with BW Businessworld