Conventional teaching and learning patterns are shifting, changing the way teachers and students assimilate the information.
This change is set to open newer avenues for the teaching and learning groups, paving the way for a modern pedagogy. With that in mind, we interviewed Ms. Chitra and Mr. Ganesh from Chrysalis to give insight into the “Indian Education 2025 and how Chrysalis is paving the way”.
Video Interview
Skip to:
She is passionate about school education transformation in continuum and believes that a child should be the primary focus of all stakeholders. She got the idea of founding an educational research and innovation organization from her personal experience: she saw her kids spending almost 80% of their time in schools and getting little in nurturing their unique potential.
According to her, “Kids drop out of school mentally due to boring methodologies & inauthentic assessments. And such dropout rates are not measured often!” This is the pain point she wishes to work through Chrysalis and its endeavours. She believes every child has an innate Human Potential that can be awakened through classroom elements.
Our other guest, Mr. Ganesh, has tremendous experience in strategic management at leading educational services and information-technology related organizations. He is a prominent speaker at several National and Regional Forums on CSR. He is also a Panelist and Task Force Member on core aspects of Corporate Social Responsibility related to the Industry and NGO fraternity.
In 2013, he led a delegation of government school heads, teachers, and Education Department officials to Finland so educators from both countries could mutually share ideas and learn. In September 2014, Ganesh represented Chrysalis at the 2014 Asia Literacy Conference and the 3rd Bangladesh National Conference of Teachers at Dhaka. He also presented a paper on “Emerging Issues for Teachers Professional Development”.
Interview Highlights
We asked Ms. Chitra how she defines school transformation given her 20 years of experience and how this definition changed over the years. She answered, “Since independence, if you look at the school ecosystem, the past 20 years have been more significant, especially if you see the National Curriculum Framework 2005 and the more recent National Education Policy 2020. There have been a lot of tricks, reforms and focus that has come into the implementation that we can broadly call ‘School Transformation’. School transformation is also about a school’s micro and macro factors and variables. Other than that, factors like school leadership, community participation, and many others come into play when it comes to teaching and enabling.
She concluded by reflecting on her 20 years of experience in the education industry, the ups and downs, and the changes she has experienced throughout her journey.
When asked whether schools are ready for 2025, she answered, “We are not so far; if we look at this as a short-term or mid-term vision. It is going to be very significant because there are several changes at a societal level that are now pushing to adapt to these changes. For example, an enormous change has occurred in shifting from cash to digital payments and offline to online learning. Technology is also bringing a change in human mindset, and children are changing dynamically”.
Later, while speaking on how schools can prepare themselves for these changes, she highlighted two things:
- One; the mindset that are we ready to plunge in or what attitude do we carry towards learning?
- The other thing, a toolkit for us to get in action.
She said that we always think we need to have the vision to get into action. “We need to work on bringing these together. We need to make attitudinal changes like unlearning and learning and rely less on old experience.” She believes that the coming years will be very different, with new challenges yet to come. Adding some examples to help leaders understand the future of the education industry, she said, “the future would be a great mix of technology and digitization. Furthermore, sound principles can lead to changes in humanity”.
“Establishing a growth mindset and unlearning mind and equipping ourselves with strategies and tricks is necessary. Most importantly, collaboration is the need of the hour. If we are not going to partner and collaborate,” Chitra said, “we may face many difficulties.”
She also highlighted the strategies that helped Chrysalis take a special place in education. According to her, Chrysalis has an inner perspective on where the emphasis is placed to awaken the human potential in each child. “Chrysalis focuses not just on the child’s performance, but also on the overall process so that the child can discover his or her inner self and obtain those moments of awakening. This leads to holistic development for the child.”
She further said that apart from these, Chrysalis-since its inception-has always stressed on keeping children engaged in learning and fieldwork. She believes the Chrysalis team’s exposure in last 20 years has built the organization’s DNA.
Chitra also said, “Our approach to partnering with a school has much to do with co-ownership. We believe that every school has its unique characteristics and approach to learning, and we strive to add value to it, not just provide services. For us, it is not just a question of the partnership but also of achieving common goals towards which the school’s stakeholders, educational researchers and academicians work.
She also spoke about her recent partnership in the interview and the untapped opportunities she sees in the education industry.
Mr. Ganesh, when asked what key challenges face today’s school leaders, said that there are significant challenges in the educational industry, mainly induced by the current pandemic and a few traditional learning challenges.
To be precise, according to him, the challenges are:
- Lower admissions (probably even before the pandemic) Parents not paying the fees regularly.
- Recognizing the current and appropriate educational products or solutions that add value to education.
- Safety of children and staff during the pandemic.
- Government regulations.
Ganesh also addressed the question of why do people trust Chrysalis. “Each member of the Chrysalis team,” he said, “is dedicated to achieving their goal. Chrysalis has also consistently established confidence in its associated school leaders.”
Watch the interview to learn more about Chrysalis’ journeys since 2001 and how it is paving the way to 2025.
