Ashish Tibdewal, Country Director of Global Schools Foundation (GSF), India speaks about Global Schools Foundation and its offerings.
Tell us about the Global Schools Foundation.
We at Global Schools Foundation with our holistic approach emphasise on the development of student based on academic, social, emotional, and physical skills. GSF came into existence in 2002. It is a non-profit organisation that operates schools across the globe and aims to provide better resources to interact with different learning methods. We are currently based in major countries including Singapore, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam with plans to expand and promote quality education around the world, offering courses in the International Baccalaureate (IB), Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and many more curricula.
Tell us about your foray into India and your plans.
The education landscape in India is undergoing a significant transformation. In the present era, education regulations have become highly specific, taking into account the diverse sensitivities of the population. With One World International School, we understood such challenges and saw many opportunities in those that kept us going. Through OWIS, we offer globally recognised programmes and a holistic learning approach that focuses on the needs and interests of the student like new age technologies, unique educational framework, research opportunities, and collaborating with local organisations such as youth clubs and libraries.
In the future, we plan to expand its presence in India by opening more campuses in different cities and also collaborating with local communities and organisations to promote sustainability and environmental awareness, which is a core value of the Global Schools Foundation.
All talk about child-centred teaching. How is OWIS different?
At OWIS, students are encouraged to take an active role in their learning while also giving great importance to character development and value-based learning. The curriculum offers more flexibility and adaptability to meet the needs of each student that includes unique and modern teaching methods like team building for projects that engage students with hands-on experiences helping them to understand collaborative as well as real-world skills. The OWIS pedagogy, curriculum and faculty make learning fun, meaningful and a lot more effective. Overall, we are putting the needs and interests of students first, and aim to create a positive and empowering learning environment that prepares students for success in the 21st century.
Indian students, especially in cities, are showing interest in the international curriculum. Your comments
We are living in a highly advanced digital world that opens up a huge ground of information in front of us all. Information becomes awareness that is not just limited to the parents living in modern cities but also to many rural areas. They look for a more holistic approach that involves international education to prepare their children for a globalised world. GSF offers a wider range of subjects, extracurricular activities, quality education with challenging academic experience, inherits different cultures and perspectives, and most importantly opens up doors for gaining skills in international or foreign-based universities.
The advent of technology, especially during and after the pandemic has changed the classroom landscape. What will the future classroom look like?
The Covid-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the traditional way of teaching and learning. GSF schools were already attuned to the changing world of education and have been employing new and modern approaches, for some time now, placing us ahead of the curve. Much before the pandemic hit the world, we understood and began our journey towards digitalisation in new-age education which needs new technological approaches for more flexibility and is focused on personalised learning.
The blended learning model being imparted at GSF schools combine online and in-person instructions powered with AI tools making classrooms more student-centred, interactive, and technology-driven. We understand the needs of generation alpha and consider future classrooms to be much more digitally driven with advanced technologies including artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and advanced analytics with transformed and adaptable spaces.
How the Indian curriculum is building a global presence, which is opening doors for more of the country’s education suppliers. Your comments.
The Indian curriculum is the driving force behind India’s global recognition, as it has nurtured world leaders such as Sundar Pichai, Satya Nadella, Arvind Krishna, and numerous CEOs in the IT and Silicon Valley sectors. This stands as a pillar in creating a global presence for people around the world. The education curriculum of India is now gaining recognition worldwide, leading to a growing number of international students enrolling in CBSE and ICSE schools outside of India. Furthermore, Indian parents have recognised the significance of these curricula and prioritise enrolling their children in Indian education systems abroad. This is evident from the fact that prestigious educational institutes like IIT, IIM, and others are planning to expand overseas, indicating that these education streams are gaining equal importance beyond the borders of India.