Stansfield Group driver
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| Chettiar: role model aspiration |
Kannapan Chettiar, the founder chairman of the Singapore-based Stansfield School of Business (SSB — estb:1993) a division of the Stansfield Group Pvt Ltd and a well-known provider of University of London (UoL) degrees and diplomas, has outreached his education empire to India, the first stop being the port city of Chennai (pop: 6.2 million). SSB’s eight storeyed vertical campus built at a capital cost of Rs.25 crore sited on the city’s arterial Mount Road was officially inaugurated last month. A replica of SSB Singapore, this state-of-the-art wireless campus boasts air conditioned, well-furnished classrooms with LCD projectors and plush Belgium carpeting. Classes commenced on August 1 for the first batch of 600 students instructed by a full-time faculty of 24 supplemented by visiting faculty from SSB Singapore.
"A comfortable physical environment is very important to enable optimal performance of students. As a B-school, we want to be a role model for others and wish to ensure that students learn from us and take our culture, conduct and systems to their workplaces in the future. Our mission is the creation of a first world economy in India through international management education to which purpose we have designed a thoroughly modern educational institution," says Chettiar, an alumnus of Michigan State University, University of London and National University of Singapore who forayed into education with the promotion of the Singapore Institute of Commerce (SIC) in 1990. However SIC ran smack into financial difficulties prompting its distress sale in 1992. Undaunted, Chettiar made a fresh start by persuading UoL to introduce its study programmes in Singapore after negotiating with his suppliers in London for extended credit periods. In 1993 he started the Stansfield School of Business. Within a year, the school spread to two campuses to accom-modate its 1,000 students — an enrollment larger than that of SIC which was subsumed by the Stansfield Group in 1999.
Today, the Stansfield Group owns eight schools in Singapore with an aggregate enrollment of 4,000 students and manages Singapore’s largest hostel occupying nine acres. Chettiar’s untiring efforts in building the Stansfield Group into a world class institution earned him the Rotary-ASME Top 10 Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2002 and he was acknowledged as one of the top five Indian entrepreneurs by the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Singapore last year.
Chettiar aims to promote "borderless education". Therefore the Stansfield Group will allow students to study in its colleges in three different countries — India, Singapore and China to acquire international exposure. Other plans include setting up a campus in China by 2006 and promotion of 20 B-schools in India by 2008 starting with Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai.
Hemalatha Raghupathi (Chennai)
Oral health pioneer
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| Mistry: accumulated accolades |
Although he has attained the biblically mandated time span of three score and ten, Dr. Keki Mistry, one of the first dental specialists who introduced orthodontics and specialty dentistry to India, continues to actively practice his vital vocation. Simultaneously he doubles up as director and member of the managing council of Mumbai’s D.Y. Patil Deemed University, where he is a much loved teacher. A dentistry alumnus of Bombay University and the University of Illinois, USA, Mistry also boasts a Masters in public health from London University and a doctorate from the International Open University in Copenhagen, Denmark.
"A dentist must be technically competent, biologically aware and socially sensitive if he is to do justice to his vocation," says Mistry. "Medical education must stimulate acceptance of responsibility for patients within a doctor’s clinic and for the community beyond. On Teacher’s Day I am flooded with messages from my former students who appreciate this value-based aspect of the education I have imparted to them."
By any yardstick Dr. Mistry’s contribution to society has been vast. Among his many achievements are the first ever standardised World Health Organisation (WHO) surveys in rural Maharashtra and south India on the incidence of dental diseases, to gain deeper insights into oral health problems. Moreover between 1961 and 2002, he held over 497 free oral health and multi- disciplinary camps, attended by over 1.95 million people.
In 1983 WHO coopted Mistry into its expert advisory panel on oral health in recognition of his contribution to dentistry. In fact Oral Health Day, celebrated by WHO on April 7 every year, was conceptualised by him.
Over the decades accolades to this oral health for all champion have accumulated. Among his numerous awards: National Gold Medal and B. C. Roy Award for medico-social relief work in India, 1984; the Asian Pacific Dental Federation Award for conceptualsing annual oral health day, 1994; the 21st Century Award for Achievement in Orthodontics from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, 2005.
But Mistry’s greatest reward is his own. "I am lucky that God has blessed me with the good health which is necessary to teach and minister to thousands of people. Their warm appreciation is my best award," he says.
Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)
Asmita founder
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| Dutt: slow learners champion |
Dr. Krishna Dutt, the sole clinical psychologist at Lucknow’s King George’s Medical University, is the founder secretary of Asmita, one of north India’s few centres for slow learners. An alumnus of NIMHANS (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurological Sciences), Bangalore, Dutt hit upon the idea of promoting the centre after years of mulling over the problem of educating slow learners effectively. "Slow learners face a peculiar problem. They can’t be part of the normal world and yet if made to interact with mentally challenged children, their condition will only worsen," he explains.
Established in 1989, Asmita is a not-for-profit day care training and education centre which has 40 slow learners in the age group of five-15 on its muster. The students are instructed by six teachers besides a panel of visiting experts — paediatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists, physiotherapists and speech therapists. Dutt’s wife Madhuri Devi and daughter Urvi are also part of the centre’s team, which is housed in their modest home. A specially designed curriculum ensures that education at Asmita is through play and experience with minimal rote memorisation emphasis. The content is divided into easily understood parts while the institutional focus is on specific abilities rather than multiple attainments.
"Although there has been a sea change in attitudes towards slow learners with parents no longer shamed into hiding their children and normal schools accepting and making special provisions for them, the question that remains unanswered is where do these children go after training and education. The government does not recognise them as a separate group and hence no provisions are made for them," he says. Towards that end, Dutt has been relentless in his efforts to create greater awareness about the problems of slow learners through seminars and counselling. His team has just concluded a survey to ascertain the magnitude of the problem in Lucknow.
Although Dutt would like Asmita to admit more students and diversify its activities, he is constrained by a lack of funds. But that is no damper on his spirit. "Although we might not have achieved all that we set out to, there is satisfaction that we did not stop," he says philosophically.
Right on brother!
Vidya Pandit (Lucknow)
India’s ace archer
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| Banerjee: consistent performer |
She made her mark by bagging a not unimpressive 13th position in the 2004 Olympic Games at Athens. She was also ranked seventh in the Busan Asian Games (2002) and fifth in the European Grand Prix last year. This year she’s gone one better by winning individual golds at the European Grand Prix in Turkey and the Grand Prix in Antalya (Spain).
Meet Dola Banerjee (26), India’s ace woman archer who has been selected yet again to represent India at the World Archery Championship scheduled to be held in Spain in July-August. And if the array of medals on her chest are anything to go by, Banerjee is likely to hit bull’s eye in Europe yet again. "Sports achievement is all about disciplined practice," she says.
And consistency. Starting out as a ten-year-old archer, Banerjee has won a gold, silver or bronze medal in every National meet between 1990 to 2004! All this comes at a price. She begins training at 6 a.m daily under a bevy of Korean coaches and continues until 10 p.m with just a few breaks in between. The practice routine becomes more frenzied — if that’s possible — when international tourneys are in the offing. "I have little time for my family or to pursue any hobbies," she says matter of factly.
A former coach at the Tata Archery Academy in Kolkata, Banerjee is currently employed by Indian Railways. She rates Korea, China and Japan as the top three nations in this graceful sport. "India still has a long way to go. Right now, we have only a couple of good training centres — one each in Jamshedpur and Meerut. We need to invest in better coaches as they are imperative for improved performance, even if they happen to be the expensive foreign ones."
This talented sportswoman says India is "getting there" in archery though it is nowhere in the reckoning for the world’s top three slots. "But, with better training, our performance is getting better with each tournament. That augurs well. Also, Korean coaches have made a huge difference to Indian archery," she says.
Banerjee believes that academics apart, educationists need to make a conscious effort to build a sports culture in the country. "For this, we need to follow the example of the world’s top sporting nations and begin in pre-school. We should also de-link politics from sports to the maximum extent possible," she advises.
Valuable words of advice.
Neeta Lal (Delhi)