Effective Principals 2020 | Dr. Revathi Srinivasan, Director & Principal of Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School

The School in the Clouds

Last November, while addressing educationists at an Educational Conclave on the Future of Education, I spoke about creativity, innovation and technology.

I said “I dream of schools in the clouds, so that education reaches all”.  

It happened…our schools were all in the cloud.

The unprecedented situation forced us to relook Education.

The uncertainty shook us a little and we quickly began to recover but in an unstructured format.

In a month’s time, schools realized that this was there to stay.

Education embraced technology in this learning crisis. The Technological Revolution swept us all. .

In the past decade, schools have used technology in their classrooms through recorded content, interactive boards, videos, tablets with preloaded study material and digitalized texts.

This enabled and empowered the teacher. It also gave students an access to experts in various fields. With schools closed, using the old tools in a complete virtual format made learning meaningless.

Students needed personalized and multi-level learning. They wanted the feel of a real school. With limitations of funds, tech know-how and time, schools cannot manage VC platforms and online learning material.

This is where Ed –Tech companies stepped in.

With access to capital and expertise, the Ed-tech companies had a competitive advantage.

Ed-Techs served heterogeneous classrooms, customized curriculum, provided support and teacher training, created creative personalized content and assessments. Graphics, gamification, story- telling made playful learning.

It also opened vistas for a gifted student to be mentored by the best tutor. The transformation in education had started.

After the initial apprehensions of screen time, technology and cost factors, parents too, are slowly accepting the virtual learning as a way of life.

While technology has encouraged partnership in Education, it cannot stand alone.

It is impossible to replace the real -world environment that schools provide. Education space demands a whole new thinking.

It needs a whole new mind to be able to prepare our students for a different world. Teachers create magic online and offline.

Even problems of financial feasibility and access are addressed by schools.

Schools have stretched themselves beyond to reach out to every child.

Schools are grappling with equitable access and helping children with special needs.

This can be handled only by caring and compassionate teachers. Technology is an enabler but is not a baseline counsellor.

Blended learning will be the future. A healthy blend of classroom experiences and technology will aid better learning.

For meaningful blended-learning to happen, we must promote large-scale inter –continental academia – industry interface for mutual benefit.

This is because only schools understand the changing needs of the students and the times.

An open conversation between the two will open vistas for the creation of new knowledge.

It will also create a new culture of reflective thinking, so essential for every learning institution –be it a school or an Ed-tech company.

We have entered a world of collaborations,but when we talk education , it should always be a mission , not a business.

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Effective Principals 2020 | Dr. Revathi Srinivasan, director & Principal of Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School

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