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
Sindhura Indukuri
Founder and Managing Director
The Shri Ram Universal School, Hyderabad
While the world is progressing towards gender -neutrality, we in India and many developing nations are still struggling with the basic concept of gender equality. Fortunately, my in-laws, husband and parents support me with every decision and endeavour I wish to pursue. We need to ask critical questions that include: As a parent, would I also ask my son to do what I am asking my daughter to do? As a husband, would I also want my daughter to experience what I am expecting my wife to do right now? As an in-law, would I ask my daughterin-law to do something that I would also ask my daughter/son to do! When the answer to these questions is a No, then there is no gender equality.
On happiness
The impact of our initiatives through healthy personalized feedbacks, appraisals, observation and walkthroughs, weekly class assemblies, our razor-sharp focus on authentic student-driven teaching and learning methodologies. All of these measures are taken with a sole aim to attain the outcome ‘The Happy School’ – a place where all its stakeholders including teachers/colleagues , students and parents are happy being a part of the institution.
Happiness stems from belongingness to a place and belongingness comes from being heard and recognized. We have many programs targeted towards all its stakeholders and their happiness.
As part of Shri Sparsh, we cater to children with special needs and learning difficulties by providing Individualized Education Plans to each student. Happy teachers make happy students, from a thorough analysis of teacher competency on 24 parameters which is based on observations, interactions and happiness quotient of teachers to providing extensive training along with handholding to enhance skillsets and boost confidence. Peer mentoring has been an effective tool to enhance skill-set and promote a culture of camaraderie. Emotional well-being is given utmost importance at TSUS through Shri Saathi.
On leadership
‘Leadership is evoking in others the capacity to dream’ – John C maxwell. Back in 2016, when Aishwarya and I started the school, it was a dream that both of us shared. But as more passionate people joined the team, it was our responsibility to communicate our dream to them and inspire them to make it their dream as well. We created a vibrant environment filled with Respect, Empowerment and Recognition.
Saving environment
We are the brand ambassador for Kids for Tigers (KFT) Programme in collaboration with the magazine, Sanctuary Asia which runs free of cost and enrolls students from classes 3 to 8. Kids for Tigers uses the tiger as metaphor for all of nature. We cannot save tigers without saving its forests. In saving forests, we offer a haven for all the plants and animals that share their home.
We protect 600 of India’s purest rivers that originate from the tiger forests. Each year there is a different theme to take the programme forward.
