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Fresh pair of shoes, tailor-made uniforms, matching lunch box sets and loads of stationery!
A lot is talked about a student’s checklist for going back to school. What about the view from the other side of the hill? Would you like to know how we got ready for the start of this academic year?
Aside the yearly drill of student admissions and orientations, campus renovations and upgrading classrooms with fresh furniture, ordering and bundling books for distribution, we had all our schools prepped to usher in the new season of schooling. At Ekya, it wasn’t just the normal routine of preparation that got us going. Our excitement lay in bringing to the fore, our vision for the new academic year: ‘Live the lesson’.
Our aim at Ekya is to create an environment where a child would live the lesson rather than just learn it. Inquiry based learning that is immersive and focuses on not just what to learn but how to learn.
Ekya Learning Centre (ELC), our stellar curriculum team, put in over eight months of rigorous research to identify and benchmark practices implemented by global leaders in Education. Keeping in tune with the best educational frameworks and international standards, we were able to craft well-thought lesson plans that are at the core to our comprehensive syllabus.
Transcribing this vision to our teachers was achieved by a two week long orientation, led by Mrs Tristha Ramamurthy, Founder & Managing Director, Ekya Schools. Over 300 teachers from across all our schools convened to kick-start their preparation; sharing the same emotion, the sheer excitement of getting back to class and meeting their students. After introducing our new teachers to the Ekya family, we welcomed our faculty members back from their well-deserved summer break.
Taking the teachers through the Learning Areas of their respective subjects, the ELC also established lesson plans for the academic year that will be set in motion as soon as the students arrive for their first day when school begins.
It was not all talk at the Orientation, as teachers got their hands on few of the industry’s top tools and platforms. With technology seeping into every field of work, Education isn’t an exception. Our teachers caught up with the latest inclusion of tools that make their work paperless, convenient and easily accessible to their students.
Tucked in between sessions were the activities that raised the spirit of togetherness and spread smiles across. From showcasing quick reaction time for the True and False game to belting out Bollywood songs across the lively rounds of Anthakshari, our teachers had their share of fun and laughter.
To ensure we get our teachers the best start to their year, a few international experts flew in to host interactive sessions on subjects spanning across grades K1 to 4. Exchanging notes with teachers and trainers from the other side of the globe helped bring new perspective to teaching methods and mentoring techniques.
Throughout the week, our teachers were given the opportunity and space to tinker with the tools of the trade, open up to new concepts, explore and understand what lay ahead while making room to have fun and enjoy their learning experience.
Connecting the dots and reflecting on the week that was, our teachers realized that they had in fact lived the lesson themselves. Two weeks of the Orientation was brought to a close with the sincere promise of helping every Ekya child live the lesson.
With only two more days left to get back to school, the stage is set! With classrooms, lesson plans and the year planned ahead, our teachers look forward to welcoming their students back. Be it the current crop coming back from their summer holidays or the new ones who are about to start their journey with Ekya. After all, new students equate to more new friends and all of us at Ekya Schools are eager to meet them.
Roll on, Academic Year 2017-2018!
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