Edu-view: Disagree to Agree
It’s not a normal chat its an “Edu-view” Exclusive Interview with lots of successful persons who made their own way. We are taking you to the depth of the industry with some of the successful entrepreneurs, who are going to share the most vulnerable instance that they had faced during their struggle and teach how to cope up with this easily.
Ms Madhumita Roy is currently Dean of Prudence International School, Mumbai, India. She is working in the education industry for more than 18 years now and has worked with several schools. She has been involved in teaching, heading school departments, administrating the schools and business development for several schools. She has been working across India since 2001 and has an experience of working with international schools.
Considering the fact that she has worked in the field for almost 2 decades, she has definitely observed the paradigm shift that took place in the education industry with the introduction of new technologies. She believes that students are ready to adopt the technology yet there are numerous opportunities to make learning a better experience.
We at Craft Driven believe that to get an Edu-view on the education system in any country, there could be no person better than who has spent several years in the industry and has interacted with students as well as parents over the period of time. Ms Madhumita Roy’s experience at the ground level, while interacting with the students on a daily basis makes it easier for her to analyse the psyche of the students and talk about the gaps that are still prevailing in the industry and are restraining the further growth of the students.
Q. What kind of extra facilities (specifically related to technology) you have started in the school in past 5 years?
She is linked to Prudence International School for the past 4 years and in these years, she has observed several changes that have come over the period of time. She says that from chalk and blackboard model, we have now moved on to click and learn. Technology has made the way for collaborative learning. Through different app groups some of them as simple as WhatsApp, students can interact with their fellow students as well as teachers easily without any restrictions. In addition, there are more student exchange programs and there are more opportunities to learn new cultures. There is no need to physically travel for students from the globe to meet, they can, in fact, meet virtually with the help of technology. While talking about all this, let’s not forget the contribution that emails, short message service and bulk messages have provided us.
Q. Have you seen any changes in the competition that the students are facing these days to as compared to 10 years back?
She says that comparing the exposure that the students have at the current time is non-comparable to the time of ten years back. There was not much exposure at that time. She compares her time of education to current time when her own daughter is studying in high school. As per Ms Madhumita Roy, today’s generation is much more focused towards what they want to achieve in their life. They are not only aware but they also have the resources to do so. This has increased the boundaries of their competition also. Now, it’s not just bound within the four walls of their schools but is global in nature. Though there are some students, who are quite laid back, the smarter students are more focussed.
Q. What about the career choices of the students? Are they looking beyond engineering and medical science or they still need a lot of career counselling?
Ms Madhumita Roy thinks that career counselling should be provided at an early stage to all the students. It is highly important that students get to know their strengths and weaknesses. An early discovery of weaknesses helps them convert them into their strengths and find a solution to further develop themselves. Now, the education pattern has evolved quite a lot and is not restricted to streams of engineering and medicine, however, due awareness has to be raised.
Q. Do parents have a major say in the career choice that they make?
Ms Madhumita has worked in different schools across India and she says that parent behaviour mostly depends upon the region and their awareness towards different careers. Some of the parents leave it all upon the students and don’t even take any interest in their future career option. However, some parents force their children too much that students have no say in selecting their own career.
Another point of view over this is that parents know their kids better than any teacher or a career counsellor. They know their child’s capabilities and whether they will be able to do a particular course or not. So, having them as a decision maker is not at all wrong, but they can be guided thoroughly about different career options.
Q. These days emotional stress and anxiety are increasing a lot among the school students? How do you think students can cope up with that?
Emotional stress is one of the outcomes of the current education system and curriculum. There is heavy competition and more expectations from the students. However, she Ms Madhumita has observed that the students with a clear focus less likely to get caught in emotional stress and depression. But seeing a failure may lead even these students towards mental stress. These days pedagogy is changing rapidly for the betterment of students. There is more focus and encouragement towards stress buster programs. Also, students are advised to meet more people which help them to understand the practical scenarios and tackle their life in a less burdensome way.
Q. It is a rule in many schools that there are reserved seats for the students who belong to the poor background. Do schools do anything to maintain their identity a secret? Do these students remain aloof in the school? What are your personal views as an experienced person on this point?
Unfortunately, very rare students actually benefit from the scheme Right to Education(RTE). In most of the cases, the students from emotionally weaker section find themselves different due to their different family background, different culture and different human interaction behaviour. All this leads them to feel secluded. Many of them also get stressed due to the behaviour of other students. Ms Madhumita very frankly says that there are very rare chances when a student who has come from RTE seat shows his calibre to the whole school, such students are highly passionate and focussed towards their dream career.
To avoid any difficult situation for the students from economically weaker section while trying to fit in an international school, schools should start doing orientation programs and promote equality and compassion among the students.
To know more about the rule passed by the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry for private schools to necessarily reserve 25% seats for poor click here.
Q. Has government or any public department made it necessary to tell the students about cyberbullying or cyber-crimes? What do you think about it considering the current high usage of internet by students as young as 10 years old?
She says that she has not heard of any strong measure that a school has taken in her knowledge. Most of the students are left at their own discretion or it is their parents that guide the students against cyber-crimes and how to deal with them.
However, schools should start taking counselling and orientation programs regarding the issue and they should guide the students about the helplines they can use in case of any such incidence. Students should be made comfortable to talk about any such incident with either their parents or teachers with whom they are comfortable.
Q. Teenagers in any school are most the vulnerable ones. They have several problems of their own and they have to deal with lots of things. It has come to notice that drug abuse has become one of the biggest problems in the country among the school students also. Have you ever got any help regarding this from the government or are there any specific classes regarding this in schools?
When a child enters a school at the age of 3, the challenges start coming up since then. At that time, the problems are different and when they reach the stage of teenage, the problems are different. However, we can’t solve the challenges that come with the age, until they are taught in a proper manner from their childhood. Students are needed to be given proper orientations, seminars and workshops from the beginning of their school. They should be properly guided about the etiquettes that they should follow, kindness and compassion, understanding for others, and the right behaviour that is expected from them. A wholesome program can save the students and even the slightest mistake in the program can lead the innocent children towards the wrong path of drug abuse and other self-destructive measures.
Hope some guidance and motivation we delivered to our youth entrepreneurs. We wish a great life journey ahead to Ms Madhumita Roy.
Stay tuned and keep updated with us for more such Edu-views on Education Industry and exclusive interviews of Edupreneurs.
Tags: Career Advice, Career Counselling, Career Guidance, Craft Driven, Craft Driven Market Research, Edu-view, Education Industry, Ms Madhumita Roy, Prudence International School