Gayathri C has been a resilient administrator and educator with 23 years of experience in the education sector. She served as a teacher at SISA Vidya Kendra and later became the Vice Principal of Sharada Vidya Mandira. She is currently the Principal of The Polaris International School, Hosakote, Bengaluru.
Social media can be a double-edged sword but using it judiciously is what is needed and The Polaris International School does it with aplomb, thanks to the inventiveness of Gayathri. For instance, to mitigate social media addiction in students, the Rubik cube became a wonderful tool to divert attention and was made into a classroom activity; soon it turned into a mandatory activity. Now the school holds competitions and allows students to engage in the activity during break time. If Rubik cube was used to wane away students from social media, videos of students with their opinions and talents were shot and shared on parents’ social media groups which resulted in building self-esteem and at the same time making the time spent on social media purposeful.
Keeping teachers together is a huge challenge and in spite of the pandemic, teachers stayed back believing in Gayathri’s vision. The priorities are implementing activities to upskill; instil cultural values and the joy of working as a team.
For better understanding of a subject, teachers usually start with mental math exercises at the beginning of a class. This reduces anxiety when learning new topics. Gayathri conducts regular assessments so that students overcome the fear of board exams. She believes weekly assessments of each chapter can bring real confidence among students to face academic assessments.
Gayathri believes in continual training of students and teachers. On her daily rounds, she stops at each classroom to interact with students. For example, she asks students to write “excuse me” in the vernacular language; or “what is the basic definition of science?” or “how did Hindi become a language?” These have helped students question themselves and to know and learn.
Gayathri does not emphasize on scoring high but rather encourages to understand concepts well. For several years, she has coached and trained students and made them shine in academics and take thoughtful life decisions. She acknowledges that finding and retaining passionate teachers is a challenge. She has built an excellent team of motivated and knowledgeable teachers. As an educator for over 20 years, she understands the impact that schools have on students’ academic growth. Gayathri’s persuasive nature in critical times has helped her school try creative strategies to keep children, parents, and teachers together.
During leisure time students share opinions and showcase talents in the video that is shared in the parents’social media groups. This enabled students to upskill, appreciate, and showcase their talent through a very modern approach