The making of My Good School - Richa Bathla

A BOOK FOR ANYONE AND EVERYONE ASSOCIATED WITH SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLING.

• Richa Bathla
•  1st degree

KAM | Ex-Founder | Academician | Educator | Motivational Speaker| PD coach | Strategic Partnerships

“Good advice for those who want good schools to be even better.” Ruskin Bond

Where passion meets education - Arvind Passey

How many students in these past few decades in independent India use words line zest, excitement, energy, fervour, eagerness, enjoyment, delight, zeal, liveliness, vitality, vigour, and devotion for their teachers and their school days? I am one of those who will say yes, but when we look around and probe hard, the truth is that education in our country generally lacks passion. Most schools have slowly walked straight into the lair of ‘promoters and entrepreneurs’ who hardly ever think ‘beyond just investment and the ROI’. A school after all, is ‘not a venue or a building, but an environment. It is not an escape from the misgivings of life, but a haven of opportunity.’ Sandeep Dutt in his book ‘My Good School’ goes about dissecting the real needs of students, teachers, and community and even points out the sort of actions that may lead to a turn around and send out creative and well-rounded individuals on their sojourn to the next phase of their lives and who not dispensable and inconsequential clones of each other. 

This book is almost like a conversation where a concerned parent, a well-intentioned teacher, and an entrepreneur who is aware of the reality of education today discuss everything from the what, the why and the how of teaching to what it will take to redefine education and learning. The author has been intuitive enough to locate and mark every possible battle-front where school education has been fighting valiantly. The author has taken care not to miss out any vital aspect and has addressed the individual needs of our students, reflected on the kind of school that must be planned rather than keep harping on the need for going to school. The book explores the benefits of experiential learning and involved learning through participation. This obviously brings us to the vital area of having the right kind of teachers. The author quotes A N Dar, former principal of Scindia School as agreeing that ‘many well-known schools are floundering because the school is not giving them the space required by them. There are appraisals and increments and even sacking but the quality of staff is not growing.’ Look at some of the schools and this statement will transcend any doubts that a reader may believe. We know that for a student a ‘school is simply an ecosystem for their personal and professional development’ and that ‘without teachers, a school is just a building, without trained teachers, schooling is not education, and without trained teachers for all. Education for all will never be a reality’. Therefore, those individuals who have been using ‘teaching as a way to pass time as they study, pursue other academic programmes and prepare to get better jobs’ generally end up not giving their best because ‘good teaching is as much about passion as it is about reason. It is about caring for your craft, having a passion for it, and conveying that passion to everyone’.

If readers of this review get a feeling that the author is simply putting forth problems and issues, Sandeep Dutt takes no time in pointing out that the school administration has an equal responsibility. It is a part of the duties of the administration to make sure that their staff must be involved beyond the classroom, that is, also in the decision-making and effective functioning of the school as ‘leadership at the school is a major catalyst in helping build a good school’. Among the plethora of these ponderings are teacher-student ratio, quality of teachers, academic and administrative support, access to contemporary research, awareness of new pedagogic trends, updated curriculum, academic options for students, and even the often grossly overlooked role of hobbies, sports, and spare-time activities. The book takes no time in pointing out that it is skills learnt at school that build employability and thus grooming teachers to be leaders and mentors, the role of parents and community as equal stakeholders, an intelligent use of the latest technology, and updated curriculum can be just as important as communication skills and proficient English.

What really attracted me to the content in this book is the fact that it says a lot that even the new NEP or our National Education Policy has envisaged and has already begun moving towards making education wholesome and healthy. In my cover story on NEP a few months back I had written that a ‘vital component of this policy is the visible shift from rote learning through modified pedagogy aimed to enhance critical thinking, creativity, scientific temper, communication, collaboration, problem solving, ethics, social responsibility and digital literacy. The objective for this dynamic transformation is set to be achieved by 2022’. This article also points out that the NEP has elements that make training interventions for teachers sturdier as this is the only way to upgrade the doddering literacy and numeracy that exists today. Besides strategic placements of focused training for teachers (other points of focus will be recruitment, motivation, continuous education and career development), a positive increase in the use of technology is aimed at. Even Mr Anil D Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE  was quoted as saying that our ‘faculty today must be prepared to bring in creative thinking and thus their critical analysis of the entire system will become note-worthy in multiple ways.’ This obviously cannot be possible unless there is an equally powerful thrust of public investment in education. These are the two pillars besides a single-minded focus on vocational and adult education that are going to lead the nation towards universal access to education by 2030. I have also asked as to why NCERT did not think of developing a national curriculum framework for adult education all these years? The question that I’d like to ask here is if all the giant procedure and process generating institutions work only when a policy pushes and catalyses them? Are terms like ‘being proactive’ actively prancing around only for junior executives in multi-nationals? Yes, policy makers believe that certain changes will improve governance, but isn’t it time that our thinking bodies stopped just waiting for instructions and began generating ideas to maximize resource utilization? Thus it is correct and timely for this policy to suggest the creation of an independent State School Regulatory Authority to handle all sorts of school regulations including the oversight of the system and implementation of accreditation. A separation of functions to eliminate conflicts of interests is obviously included.

This book is definitely an engrossing one because the author expressed issues and their solutions without sounding preachy and text-bookish. He has even remarked that these wonderful things so far as school education is concerned will have to face difficulties of acceptance at all levels, however, ‘to overcome resistance to change, we must win over teachers’ as ‘our education system and policy must encourage innovation and learning’.

Education today is not a choice between an eager child and an enthusiastic teacher but goes way above it. This is all achievable if the elements of change are expressed well as ‘any change in the world must be brought about by the power of expression’. At any level, be it school or higher education, the basic premise for any long-lasting change is a relationship between the teacher, the taught, the administration, policies, society, and parents. It is only when passion meets education that a literacy revolution is born.

.

Details of the book

Title: My Good School
Author: Sandeep Dutt
Publisher: Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd
ISBN: 978-93-90547-40-1

First published by Arvind Passey on www.Passey.info

https://passey.info/2021/02/where-passion-meets-education/?fbclid=IwAR13dH6J-wOYGda-coh-y1y1Xh35u4Hgyt4OUIKILbEm4SY3kV8SHuT2D2w

William N Bissell: Sandeep is a lifelong student of My Good School!

Foreword for the book

My Good School
Where Passion Meets Education 

Sandeep is a passionate educator. He is one of those individuals who have dedicated his life to making the greatest impact on the greatest number of people. The way he has chosen to do that is by helping schools and teachers implement programs that will help students to become lifelong learners.  

He believes in the idea that if you can change a child’s life, you can change the life of their family, their community and indeed their nation. He has live up to his motto for the last 35 years of his life in helping teachers improve their skills, helping school administrators understand how to deliver the best learning outcomes, helping school heads foster communities of curiosity, openness, learning and creativity in their schools. 

Sandeep has taken his lifelong experiences and summarized them in this thoughtful, provocative and very readable book.

I have had the pleasure of watching Sandeep’s work in the school I founded 30 years ago and the proof of his work lies in watching the graduates of the school who came from a small rural community do extraordinary things with their life. 

He has shown that regardless of where one is born, ones social or economic status, a good school can transform a child’s life by helping them learn and develop into ethical responsible global citizens. 

This book explains how schools can achieve significantly better teaching standards, foster a sense of community and help each student reach their fullest potential.

Sandeep does a great job of framing the issues that educators / school owners and administrators faced, also where they must focus their energy. As he said at the beginning of Chapter 2 - “A country is as developed as its Education sector. We in India should make ‘affordable quality education’ our development mantra and this alone will help us thrive as a great nation. No matter what path we take on the road to economic development, the quality of education will always be a speed breaker”. 

Sandeep’s book is an invaluable read for policy makers, school owners / administrators and teachers as it takes a 360 degree view of all aspects of what it takes to build great schools. The emphasis he places on the development of a strong culture of teacher’s training is reminiscent of Henry Adam, who said – “ A teacher affects eternity and one can never tell where their influence stops”. 

Applying the ideas in this book will transform how schools can deliver outstanding learning outcomes. I can say this as I have watched Sandeep apply this idea at The Fabindia School over the last 10 years as Chairman of the board.

Sandeep is able to do this successfully as he is a lifelong student. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.”

William Nanda Bissell

Chairman of the Board, Fabindia

Published by Rupa Publications  

www.GoodSchools.IN

Photo of Mr William N Bissell courtesy Neha Parmar 

Join Our Virtual Fireside Chat on 5th Jan 2021

Limited seats Register Early

FIRESIDE CHAT

Sandeep Dutt with
Dilip Chenoy

#MyGoodSchool 

5th Jan 2021 5.00 PM

REGISTER ONLINE: https://registrations.ficci.com/agmfic/online-registrationw.asp

Listen to the podcast - Making of My Good School

Storytalking

Sandeep Dutt 

with Lakshya Dutta 

of Launchora

Published on: April 01, 2020 at 8:01 AM

Lakshya is a storyteller, so he started a podcast where he could talk about stories - some real ones, some made-up ones, some inspiring ones - while also talking to different kinds of storytellers about why and how they do what they do. New episodes on weekends (mostly). Produced by Launchora.

Please play the audio file

Sandeep Dutt: Approach Your Coach

A school coach—sometimes called a school-improvement coach—is typically an individual hired to advise a school on how to improve its academic program, instructional effectiveness, and student performance. While a school coach acts much like a consultant, the use of the term “coach” is usually intentional—i.e., it’s meant to distinguish the school coach’s role from those of other professional educational consultants.

While the specific role and responsibilities of school coaches may vary widely from school to school, there is some degree on consensus on what a school coach is, and is not, within the education community. For example, school coaches are usually mission-driven or expertise driven, as opposed to project driven, in the sense that they bring a particular educational perspective, belief system, instructional expertise, or advocacy role to their job.

School coaches are often hired specifically for this reason: they are committed to helping schools achieve a specific goal, such as increasing educational equity (an ethical or social-justice goal) or expanding and improving the use of new learning technologies in the classroom (an instructional or programmatic goal). #HappyTeachers

Approach your Coach, email Sandeep Dutt lf@ebd.in

Sandeep Dutt: Taking Learning Forward

Sandeep Dutt as Chairman of Learning Forward is leading the organisation to help build learning communities all over the country. With over 30 years of hands-on experience as a social entrepreneur, a trainer and mentor for thousands of young people, Sandeep has been involved with schools across the country and worked with students in all kinds of socioeconomic environments. As the National Director of The Duke of Edinburgh's International Award, he worked for building a curriculum for enabling young people to equip for life and set in place a sustainable model for youth empowerment. As CEO designate for the Indian Plumbing Skills Council, Sandeep worked closely with the National Skills Development Council (NSDC) to set up and frame policy guidelines for the plumbing industry.

Sandeep's work for The Fabindia Schools Programme to demonstrate excellence in school operations, involving the community and establishing a sustainable model for delivering good quality education in India, is now being replicated on a larger scale. His belief is that the happiness of young people is in our hands, and we must do all to help them live their dreams by providing them with the best possible education. Taking ahead his vision and mission, he is working to provide quality education in schools across India. 

Schools Can Change in India - A Case Study

Learning Forward 2017 Conference: Session Info
Session No: 2206
Schools Can Change in India—A Case Study

Tuesday, December 5, 2017 
10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Learn about the work by Learning Forward India to transform rural schools in India through a case study of The Fabindia School. Explore the use of Standards for Professional Learning and the book, Schools Can Change, along with social media to create the right leadership, vision, culture, and relationships to empower teachers to embrace PLCs and new approaches to teaching and learning. Make connections to your own transformation efforts.

Presenters:
Karl Clauset, National Center for School Change, Bellingham, WA, khclauset@comcast.net; and

Sandeep Dutt, Bhadrajun Artisans Trust, Pali, OT, chairman@fabindiaschools.in

Area Of Focus:
Learning Communities

Audience:
Principals, Assistant Principals
School-Based Staff Developers/Instructional Coaches
Teacher Leaders/Mentors/Team Leaders

Topic:
Addressing change and resistance
Use of technology for professional learning
#LearnFwd17 #LearningForward #LearningForwardIndia

Learning Forward India provides high-impact consulting services for partners with the tools to transform professional learning, increase educator capacity, and improve student achievement. We work very closely with our partner schools and assist in the Monitoring and Evaluation of the school improvement process.

Sandeep's work for The Fabindia Schools Programme to demonstrate excellence in school operations, involving the community and establishing a sustainable model for delivering good education in the villages of India, is now being replicated on a larger scale. His belief is that the happiness of young people is in our hands, and we must do all to help them live their dreams by providing them with the best possible education. Taking ahead his vision and mission, he is working to provide affordable quality education in rural and urban India.

"My understanding is learning outcomes improvement cannot be offloaded to technology. Teachers trained with excellent spoken and storytelling skills can only make this happen, by weaving lessons appropriately in their interaction with students inside the classroom. Teachers can simulate the art of visualisation in students with their storytelling methods. Towards this the leadership improvement programs by Sandeep Dutt and his team is the only permanent fix for the current situation, technology can only take us to a limited distance".

-  VRL Swamy Vadali, Ayati Labs Pvt Ltd

Find out more: http://www.schooleducation.com/p/how-can-we-help-you-build-professional.html 

Brewing Knowledge - The Mission

Interview for the The Konverv Times

Sandeep Dutt

Personality & Career

1. Sir, let us start with a quick introduction for the readers. Please do give us a idea of what you are trying to do?

From family business to start-ups and corporate social responsibility (CSR), I have been passionately working with the youth of India to build great institutions.  A serial entrepreneur, bookseller, author, educator and a mountaineer. In his quest for leadership, have had the opportunity to travel all over the world; has been invited to many industry, government, social sector and education sector presentations for exchanging views; and has contributed to policy making. My ability to network and an understanding of digital communication has helped create international brands.

2. What do you think has been the highlight of your career so far?

Our work for The Fabindia Schools Programme, demonstrating excellence in school operations, involving the community and establishing a sustainable model for delivering good education in the villages of India, is now being replicated at a larger scale. We believe that the happiness of young people is in the hands of teachers and mentors, and we must do all to help them live their dreams by providing them with the best possible education. Taking ahead this vision and mission, we are working to provide affordable quality education in rural and urban India, by putting in place good systems, offering best in class training and ensuring that we have happy teachers to lead us.

3. How would you describe your leadership style?

‘Servant Leadership’, the focus is on empowering individuals to lead, in reality this may translate to delegating leadership. When you want to build organisations you goal is to be like a cheerleader, inspire and help each individual find the leadership within.

4. What inspired you to pursue a career in education?

The education that my family and school provided was the catalyst for my thinking and helped shape my life. The idea of a liberal arts education through which students think and learn across disciplines, literally liberating or freeing the mind to its fullest potential. The essence of such an education is not what you study but the result – gaining the ability to think critically and independently and to write, reason, and communicate clearly – the foundation for all professions.

5. What are the main principles you encourage at the school?

A good school works for the personal and social development of an individual by offering an environment where experiential learning is made possible through activities beyond just study; this brings to life learning that would otherwise be theoretical and uncoordinated. School teachers have the most important role in delivering affordable quality education.

6. Can you share something unique about your school ? Can you share one of the best practices you have implemented in your school that may be other schools can replicate?

Our concept of building the professional learning community known as Brewing Knowledge shows you how to plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so you and your team can achieve success with your system, your school, and your students. This group of passionate educators working for professional development and assists individuals, to leverage the power of professional learning to affect positive and lasting change.

7. From business to non-profits and then in education, you have come a long way, what is your biggest learning?

Philanthropy is not merely donating or giving away,  the real meaning of philanthropy is social wealth creation. ~ Sandeep Dutt

---

Message to Students

1. What is your philosophy on discipline?

The learning environment, should be free of fear and favour, there needs to be a great deal of empathy in the relationship between the teacher and the student. The best way is for the teacher to lead by example, and delve deep into the minds of the children, before taking any corrective action.

2. How do you draw the academic best out of your students?

We have to encourage each child to find themselves, there has to be equal emphasis on service, skill, sport and study, to make a fair ecosystem for every child in the school to be appreciated.

3. What characterises the students graduating from your school?

We work for the personal and social development of an individual. This is achieved by the educational philosophy My Good School, where we work for the personal and social development of an individual by offering an environment where experiential learning is made possible through activities beyond just study.

---

Learnings for Teachers

1. What advice would you give to a new teacher on his or her first year?

Live and think like a child, never ever grow up!

2. How will you motivate teachers so they will want to try new ideas?

Experiential Learning is the key, the teachers must find way to engage with children and making learning fun always.

3. Is the parent a teacher?

The first teachers in our life and perhaps the last too, are our parents. The best teacher in the world, and one who we unconsciously imbibe is our parent. No class teacher will be successful, without their engaging effectively with the parents of the children.

---

School and use of technology

1. What are the main trends in education that you are seeing at the moment?

From taking teaching as a one way process, we will more to 360 degree learning. Where the teacher and the student will learn equally from each other. There will be more of experiential learning and collaboration between the stakeholders.

2. How are you leveraging on technology in your school?

Our focus is on making the work of the teacher less taxing, by managing information and data more effectively and assist them to build their skills to match the abilities of the smart young learners.

3. With the #digitalindia massive movement today, how are you planning to contribute to it ?

We are investing in infrastructure, and even more on training of our staff, to work in the rapidly changing environment. It is imperative for us to build a learning organisation and make the process of gaining knowledge great fun for all.

---

Closing words for the Interview

1. Any message you would like to share with the readers?

I see the possibility of a nation where every school offers young people the opportunity to be rewarded for challenging themselves, rewarded for engaging with adult mentors, rewarded when finishing school, and rewarded for giving back to their communities. I believe we can help connect young people with new opportunities to change their world.

2. Finally, Sir why have you set up www.SchoolEducation.com?

Our mission is to help provide better governance, good leadership and build professional learning communities at schools. This will only be possible with The Professional Learning Community, “Brewing Knowledge”  a platform that shows you how to plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so you and your team can achieve success with your system, your school, and your students.

Brewing Knowledge is a not-for-profit open platform and connects teachers from all walks of life, online and offline as well. We are a group of passionate educators working for professional development and assist our members, to leverage the power of professional learning to affect positive and lasting change.

For more about the man and his mission, please visit www.SandeepDutt.com

You must have fun in learning

The Fabindia School Annual Day 2015 Speech ~ Sandeep Dutt, Chairman.

Thank you, dear children, for giving us the opportunity to be amongst you! Yes, we need to thank all the people who helped us reach here, but without the joy and the fun you have has no meaning. This is the only school that I have come across (as I visit thousands of schools) where they make fresh air, the forest behind you makes the fresh air. This is the only school that actually makes fresh air this is the only school that perhaps gives you the cleanest water. This is the school where you can see the stars above and feel the mud under your feet. This is the school where you can hear the children sing, this is the school that has grown where you grow with care, love and affection.

Thank you, Mr. Bissell, for you, we are very happy to be here today. We are grateful to you for having us all together on a mission, a mission that started almost   25 years back and more, so all the board members, parents, friends who all are participating in making the mission a success. What you see here is the journey partially complete, this is just the beginning. I often say and for us the happiest day will be when we see a Fabindian lead us in every sphere of life.

It is our dream that we have a Fabindian lead us not only in Study but also Sport, Skill, Service and what else? Absolutely! We want the Fabindian’s to excel in all the four fields: Service, Skill, Sport and Study. With this motive, we feel the quality of education which the school offers is far superior to even mainstream school in the country. I travel all over the country, I have come just from Delhi, I have been to many cities, but I tell you that nowhere do you breath the clean fresh air, that you breathe here.

I will say in Hindi:
जो खाओगे वही बनोगे। जो हवा पानी आपको यहाँ मिल रहा है वो आपको आगे ले जायेगा। जो शुद्ध हवा पानी बाली में है वो आगे बढ़ाएगा। आप और हम मिलकर इस छत्र - छाया में आगे बढ़ेंगे।

Thank you Principal Ma’am, thank you Chief Guest for joining and doing everything to make this evening a wonderful one. And it is wonderful to see young people like our Head Boy, Head Girl, the Prefects all taking charge. It is wonderful to see them being part of the society who are now leading to give us various skills, sports. It is wonderful to see a boy reaching the District level in soccer, It is fantastic to see children cycling all the way to Ranakpur. It is even great to see children work on Service project. The Social Service League in the school is a noble idea, we don’t have a Social Service League in any school in Bali. The Art and Craft, the Music and the Orchestra, only The Fabindia School, gives us. Let me assure you, it is all to give your child the necessary space. It is all to give your child the necessary opportunity to excel. It is for your child, of your child and by your child. Children love having fun, and we hope they continue to have fun. Teachers love teaching and the joy only spreads when children have fun so let us all be together in the joy of learning and all the best.

Thank you, everybody.

Sandeep Dutt
Chairman

Madhav's caricatures in mainstream

Caricature by Madhav Dutt

Read more

http://thecitizen.in/city/the-economic-legacy-of-manmohan-singh/

You can follow Madhav Dutt on 

http://www.madhavdutt.com

Some more stories/cartoons are online:

1. Madhav's caricature for Akhilesh Yadav. 

http://thecitizen.in/city/uttar-pradeshs-party-boy-rocks-to-bollywood-music/

2. Your article on politics and governance

http://thecitizen.in/city/the-dhoom-of-politics/

3. Madhav's caricature in the article

http://thecitizen.in/city/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/cart1.png

This will be bigger - I've already marked that as a change. 

Madhav is included in our About Us page of The Citizen

http://thecitizen.in/city/about-us/

The Dhoom of Politics

The Dhoom of Politics 

Exorbitant amounts of money, much ado about nothing, and a sorry end result: this sums up the Indian Cinema Industry and the Indian government, all in one. A couple of weeks ago, I made the fatal mistake of going for “Dhoom 3: Back in Action” with a few of my friends. As much as I would enjoy decimating this excuse of a movie scene-by-scene, I write this article to showcase a more interesting link, so I better stay on topic.

Read more

Madhav Dutt is the resident cartoonist for The Young Citizen. Madhav has always been intrigued by journalism and reportage. He believes that the ability to convey your views on issues of global importance is unparalleled, be it through the written word or the illustrated figure. As the erstwhile editor of his school’s newspaper, Madhav enjoyed drawing and writing on a wide range of global events. As an editorial cartoonist, his goal is not just to trivialise, but to sensitise!

You can follow Madhav Dutt on
http://www.madhavdutt.com