Brainfeed School Excellence Awards 2022 coincides with the 9th National Conference
If there was ever a time to doff your hat for teachers, it is now! To say that the last two years have been the most difficult would be an understatement. While the coronavirus pandemic swept the whole world under its swath, students and the teaching community too came under its spell. However, teachers the world over; especially in the Indian sub-continent rose to the occasion and kept alive the teaching and learning process, thanks to the use of technology. The Brainfeed School Excellence Awards is in a way a salute to the teaching fraternity for the service they rendered during the pandemic notwithstanding.
Brainfeed will confer the prestigious Brainfeed School Excellence Awards 2019-20 to the Top 500 Schools of India from each region. Initiated in 2014, the awards matured into India’s most sought after for its ingenuity. The Brainfeed awards have gained respect as it is not based on ranking. Every school is unique is what we believe. Divided into 24 categories, it is the most comprehensive awards given to schools. Brainfeed has put in place a fool proof methodology with evaluation based on a large number of stake-holders in educationincluding principals, teachers, and educationistsrepresenting a large consensus of informed public opinion.
Schools send nominations with evidence and the on-field surveys help determine in which category the school excels in. A school is given a maximum of four awards under the school excellence awards. (See box for categories) The methodology of selection is a rigorous process taking into account several parameters, collecting on the ground reports, keeping an eagle’s watch on social media on respective schools, keeping a tab for consistency in all matters academic. Analysis of student life data and performance in examinations is looked into. With technology making inroads into the educational firmament, pedagogical practices and innovative technology-based teaching are gaining traction. It is now a forgone conclusion that experiential learning is here to stay replacing the ‘chalk and talk’ method.
What makes the Brainfeed Awards unique and authentic is the belief that the development of a student happens in a school which encompasses a multitude of areas. There is interplay of welfare, professional development of teachers, leadership, extra-curricular activities, life-skills, innovation and development, enhancing entrepreneurial skills, developing a scientific temper and academic excellence. Ranking schools, we believe is an injustice to schools; instead recognising schools for their uniqueness is needed.
Confluence of minds
The Brainfeed School Excellence Awards is also looked forward to for another reason- it has become a place for school leaders and teachers to share, care and exchange ideas annually. We, at Brainfeed were bombarded with calls and mails enquiring about the annual national conference. Many school leaders from across the country have been associated with the yearly rendezvous for years. Anuradha Krishnan, Head of School, Ebenezer International School, Bangalore says, “The annual conference and Brainfeed awards help in several ways. One learns about new practices, on running schools and there is a sense of pride as schools are recognised for their work.”
Alka Awasthi, Principal, Mayoor School, Noida speaking to Brainfeed ahead of the conference shared, “The pleasure, impact and the effect of knowing about the conference is similar when schools reopened and children came back to the classrooms. My association with Brainfeed goes back to over five years and with each passing year, the bond gets stronger.”
Speaking about the awards, D Dhanpal, managing trustee & correspondent, Kovai Vidyashram, Coimbatore says, “I attended the conferences in Hyderabad and Bengaluru in the past and at both times it was an enriching experience. It is a great opportunity to meet other administrators and understand new scenarios unfold.” K Pillai, a senior Physics teacher from Meerut says, “What gives credence to the awards is the fact that every aspect of school eco-system is looked into and awards are designed. There is also an award for ‘Happiness Quotient’. Some schools invest hugely on infrastructure, others in sports and extra-curricular activities. It goes without saying all work towards academic excellence though.”
‘Today’s readers are tomorrow’s leaders’
The above statement has been Brainfeed’s motto. At a time when everything is going the digital way, we believe that reading can do wonders in shaping a personality and we stand vindicated. We started with a magazine in 2013 and today can now proudly say we are probably the only media house in the country that has magazines for KG to PG.
The age-specific children’s magazines namely; Brainfeed Junior, Brainfeed Primary I, Brainfeed Primary II and Brainfeed High have a combined and cumulative monthly circulation of 1, 50,000 copies. Vidya Muralidharan, Principal, Army Public School, Golconda says, “Brainfeed has come a long way. We subscribe to the student editions and have also earmarked an hour for students to read. As for the conferences, they are a great way to connect with peers. This conference is much awaited as people have forgotten to connect socially due to the pandemic.
” The magazine that you have in hand has grown by leaps in the last few years. The number of articles that land in my inbox is mindboggling and I must confess, at times we are unable to accommodate all. Since inception, we have endeavoured to bridge the gap between the government and the academia whilst covering news, updating readers on policy matters, conducting conferences on contentious issues affecting education and during the pandemic we conducted close to two dozen online conferences.
Brainfeed is the first magazine in India to use QR code to watch educational videos. Our free academic supplements (VI-X) help students prepare for both school and competitive exams and we continue to help students.
2022 beckons
We are starting 2022 on the right note and wish the 9th National Conference will pave the way for many more dialogues. In the past, we conducted conferences in Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, Finland, Sweden, China and Australia. The pandemic stalled many more forays but we are hopeful that 2022 would ring in a new world order. We are also getting a lot of requests from several cities within the country to hold conferences and are mulling over it. In the meanwhile, do give us your feedback on the 9th National Conference we would be more than pleased.
