As the new academic year is about to start we thought of speaking to Snehal Joshi, Principal of International School Aamby on the new techniques of education system, student problems and other academic issues.
The International School Aamby is run by a trust. We strive to give our students world class facilities not only pertaining to infrastructure, but also academics. Our teachers and staff members undergo regular professional development to be equipped with pedagogy that facilitates learning. So our short term goal is to strengthen our own team and student body who will then connect with community and villages nearby to extend collaboration and facilitate learning from each other.
RTE prima facie seems most progressive step that mandates the provision of free and compulsory education to children between the ages of 6 to 14. However, this may dilute the standard of private school. Instead, the government can improve/strengthen the standards of their public schools and make it mandatory for the teachers in the private schools devote about 5% of their total time (towards academic) for the public schools.
This will be then a collaborative effort from the government as well as the private institutes towards education and the government will need to take responsibility because with the current scenario; it comes as if government is shirking off this responsibility.
I do not want to sound pessimist here. However, our education system needs a revamp. The curriculum design is quite good, but the system needs to develop 21st century pedagogical leaders. There seems a lot of focus on higher education, while our primary and secondary education needs to be strengthened. Not that we do not have knowledgeable and skilled people in this sector, but the system must support and take their ideas and opinions to implement change. I do not want to compare our system with Finland which is extremely popular, being highly ranked internationally for its education system, but it is a must for our country to have a systemic change.
Definitely. However, every educator must keep in mind that the technology is a tool and has to be used to enhance the teaching learning process and never should be used as a replacement.
I have been in the field of education for more than two decades now. I started my career as a Physics teacher.
I was influenced by the design of International Baccalaureate curriculum and started my journey with this curriculum in 2004. I took over as a Principal of this school in November 2014. To strengthen my team and be prepared a pedagogical leader of 21st Century, I am pursuing MTech in Education Technology from NIIT University, Neemrana.
I like to read autobiographies and am quite passionate about theatre and like to update myself with Marathi theatre news. Would definitely like to be active in theatre once again after I complete the MTech course.
ISA’s programmes promote the education of the whole person, emphasizing intellectual, personal, emotional and social growth as outlined in the IBO Learner Profile. By focusing on the dynamic combination of knowledge, skills, independent critical and creative thought and international-mindedness, ISA espouses the principle of educating the whole person for a life of active, responsible citizenship. ISA is committed to the concept of education of the whole person as a lifelong process.
The concept of a school in Aamby Valley City was envisioned in March 2006 by Subrata Roy Sahara and Seemanto Roy, but the real academic foundations were set in 2008, when the school received authorization to offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) and the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) IGCSE programme.
Following this important step, ISA officially opened its doors on the 15th September 2008. At that time the student-teacher ratio was a very neat 2:1, with 48 students (in Standards 3 to 11) and 24 teaching staff.
This figure increased to 54 students in the second year of classes. It is expected that our student body will continue to increase until capacity is reached in 2014/15.
A very proud moment in the annals of time was the first graduating IBDP (Standard 12) class of 2009/10. It was particularly heartening to observe a 98% IBDP pass rate in our very first cohort, with students gaining entry into some of the world?s most prestigious universities.
Along with our encouraging first set of CIE IGCSE grades from Standard 10, the student achievement surpassed our own expectations. The rigorous academic standard was set from this moment, and we have continued to refine our academic programmes and to keep track with international practices.
