I was born and brought up in New Delhi. After completing my schooling and college education, I pursued a post-graduation degree in Zoology and began my career as a lecturer at Delhi University, where I taught Zoology to undergraduate students. As a student, I always had a keen interest in music, drama, and dance. This led me to take advantage of school opportunities to sing and dance. Eventually, I ventured into theater by becoming an amateur artist, participating in the staging of Tamil plays for an amateur troupe. I also worked as a casual announcer at All India Radio in the External Affairs Division. After three years in this role, I took a break for nine years to further my qualifications for the teaching profession, during which time I earned my Masters in Education.
I took on the responsibility as Principal for 19 years in schools with first-generation learners. Later, an opportunity arose to become the Principal of the prestigious Vels International School. Currently, I hold positions as the Director at VSKILL, Director of Curriculum – R&D, and Programme Leader at CIDT&L within the Vels Group of Institutions. One of the most remarkable experiences that significantly impacted my intellectual development was my visit to Argentina as part of a Rotary International Group Study Exchange program. During this program, I had the privilege of representing India in the field of education.
As the Director of Vels Group of Schools and a former principal of Vels International School, I take pride in stating that the Vels Group of Schools, is setting a benchmark in the field of education among the Schools of Chennai. The school has been instrumental in nurturing young CEOs of application software companies like GODIMENSIONS, FORMULA drivers, International Olympiad achievers, wildlife photographers, and more.
Challenges Like the wild blue ocean. Like the wild blue ocean, Vels Group of Schools is a dynamic place where high performance is sustained because we continuously challenge our teachers to enhance our students’ learning. This encourages students to set goals, strive to meet them, take risks, and build confidence in their strengths.
One of the challenges is to incorporate new and latest trends in the teaching-learning arena. The school is making every effort to integrate ICT into teaching. It is certainly challenging to keep pace with the changing needs and demands of the present-day education systems, especially when the students in our school are job providers and not job seekers! We are also looking forward to connecting with village classrooms to reach teachers in remote, rural areas and bridge the rural-urban knowledge divide.
Design & delivery of a learning ecosystem, whereby highly personalized learning, and accounting, are done for each individual’s personal learning goals. During my career as the principal of schools that catered to children from remote villages (many of whom were first-generation learners) and fishermen families, I ensured the provision of a proper social and emotional environment that addressed the genuine thirst for knowledge that these children possessed. Measures were taken to empower teachers from diverse socio-economic backgrounds through proper training, guidance, and counseling, both for revenue generation and academic affiliation.
Personal Philosophy of Faculty Empowerment, by giving the faculty opportunity. I identify their innate talents and potential which gives them the energy to practice their own teaching and learning strategies. This becomes a lifelong pursuit by engaging in competitions and working in a free environment.
Education Accentuating Social Responsibility and Safeguarding Democracy. It is my dream to explore the benefits and challenges of working with schools in other countries and to identify effective ways of supporting education for global citizenship enhancement through our own educational practices.
My Code of Sportsmanship propels me forward as an academician. I believe that childhood is a symbol of the future and the source of hope for all victories to come. In my workplace, everybody is encouraged to retain their childhood, which is not lost as children grow.
My passion is to bring variety into teaching and assessments, catering to different learning abilities and teaching styles. With this in mind, teachers and students are given a lot of freedom to engage, enjoy, and experiment with classroom teaching and assessment of their learning.
My aim is to create a purpose for learning and allow children to become thinkers, innovators, and problem solvers; and to orchestrate experiences that will result in a natural and integrated development of knowledge, skills, and thinking. I have been leading by example, creating dynamic, caring learning communities that value ‘the whole child.’ Our vision is to develop a range of pathways to lifelong learning.
My mission as a Dynamic Leader: The goal is to provide fun and rewarding learning experiences that will last for children throughout their education. I am very excited to continue forward on this journey.
