On the occasion of International Women’s Day, we bring you some of the most notable and distinguished women eduleaders from the education industry to share their incredible journey, insights, and experiences. Here are the excerpts from the interview
Alpana Baveja
Principal
Manav Rachna International School, Gurugram
Gender equality is a cornerstone for global, national and societal development. Development cannot be comprehensive and holistic without women empowerment and equal contributions by women. While women have been playing a decisive role in global, and national agendas for many decades now, it is heartening to see the graph of women’s contributions moving northwards in virtually every segment of the economy and society.
Today, women are breaking the glass ceiling in newer domains including governance, entrepreneurship, corporate leadership as well as many professions considered as an exclusive domain of men in the formal workforce, informal sector and gig economy.
It is critical to enhance the value of women by investing in and empowering them with education, life-skills, sports, healthcare facilities, etc. Simultaneously, it is essential to have short, medium and long-term roadmaps to facilitate their growth by enabling governance and policies.
While we provide equal and diverse opportunities to boys and girls, there is a need to weed out all types of biases that may creep in the system due to any reason-historical and societal.
On the girl child
Gender-equality and gender-neutrality are essential ethos in our school. We constantly strive to re-enforce these values in the school curriculum, pedagogies and activities.
At MRIS-51, we have a sharp focus on imbibing the democratic values of equality and liberty as intrinsic values. Teachers are regularly trained to be extremely objective in their pedagogies and ensure a gender-neutral approach while communicating, conducting activities and forming groups. This approach helps groom and empowers girls and develops their confidence to take on the future challenges.
Reengage students and incentivize physical classes
The limited efficacy of online mode of education has accentuated & widened dispersion in learning gaps.
There is a need to re-engage students and incentivize physical classes. Identification of learning gaps (at individual & group levels) and focussed remedial learning with periodic checks and recalibration is critical. We are also revising the curriculum, devising pedagogies and adopting innovative techniques to improve communication skills, boost peer-to-peer interactions, foster relationships and increase the confidence levels of our students.
An enhanced focus on analytical and problemsolving skills has been adopted to empower our students to take on the future challenges. Last but not the least, promoting sports and physical activities to rekindle a love for these and promote all-round development has emerged as a quintessential need and we are focussing on these aspects as well.
