People

Visionary Grace

When Grace Pinto, managing director of the countrywide Ryan Group of education institutions and director of the St. Xavier’s and Ryan Group of Schools (XRGS) took to education as a vocation in 1976, one of her driving objectives was to introduce innovations in primary and secondary school systems. Today 30 years later, her philosophy is that change is a constant which learning organisations must welcome rather than resist. "One has to embrace change at every stage in an individual or institution’s life. It’s the path to continuous learning," says Pinto an education alumna of Bombay University.

It’s a liberal philosophy which has served her and Indian education well, as today XRGS has a nationwide presence with an aggregate student enrollment of 200,000 and a staff of 8,000 educators in 105 institutions scattered across 15 states of the Indian Union. The schools within the group founded by her husband Dr. A.F. Pinto in 1976 (St. Xavier’s) and 1991 (Ryan International), offer CBSE, ICSE and SSC curriculums.

Says Pinto: "We believe that for our students to compete in the emerging global economy, a systemic change is required in Indian education. New learning and thinking styles need to be created to develop national leaders of the 21st century. To this end, schools and colleges should adopt bold innovations in learning and teaching."

Pinto believes that India’s traditional curriculums urgently need updation. "Unfortunately in our country education is delivered as a ritual or tradition that has passed on from generation to generation. This has to change. Syllabuses and curriculums need to be revised to stimulate the awakening of every child’s inherent powers of understanding and reasoning, leading to holistic personality development. This is the credo in XRGS," she says.

In a unique position to translate credo into practice, Pinto has introduced several path-breaking initiatives in St. Xavier’s and Ryan schools. For instance students of the Ryan International School, Rohini, (Delhi) have set up a radio station in their school building, while the Malad branch in Mumbai has an in-house broadcasting station which the children run themselves. This pioneer effort has got RIS an entry in the Limca Book of Records as the first school in India to have its own state-of-the-art in-house broadcasting station.

Pinto is also proud of the resounding success of the international theatre and performing arts festival which RIS has organised on six different occasions for children of 18 participating countries including Finland, Russia and Kazakhstan. "By getting our children involved in co-curricular activities we enable them to acquire vital life skills and develop into effective global citizens," she says.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)

Guruji’s gift

On November 5, when new age guru Sri Sudarshanji Maharaj comes-a-visiting to inaugurate an all-India seminar on ‘Is punishment necessary to rectify delinquent human behaviour?’ at Patna Central School, life will have turned full circle for guruji. For students and old timers of the school Sudarshanji, whose discourses are telecast daily on several TV channels, is more than a visiting dignitary: he is the founder of the school which celebrated its silver jubilee last year.

Before renouncing the world and taking to a life of spirituality, discourses and ashrams, Sudarshanji was Dr. Y.K. Sudarshan, an educationist driven by the idea of equal education for all. In pursuit of this objective, he started the CBSE-affiliated Patna Central School on October 2, 1980 with five students and a chowki (wooden bed) which served as the school’s sole bench. Since then the institution has prospered and expanded to an enrollment of 5,000 students studying on a five-acre campus. Moreover 25 similar schools were subsequently promoted by him in most of Bihar and Jharkhand’s important towns to provide primary-cum-secondary education to 20,000 students.

Born in 1937 into a village wrestler’s family, Sudarshan developed a deep interest in education at an early age and acquired a Master’s and Ph D in Hindi from Bihar University. After an array of jobs from clerk to auditor, he found his calling at the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra where he was appointed lecturer in Hindi in the mid-sixties. Following a epiphanic meeting with the legendary G.D. Birla — founder of the globe-girdling business house of Birla — Sudarshan resolved to devote himself to education causes in the most neglected and backward areas of Bihar.

"The most valuable lesson I learned from G.D. Birla was the art of delegation. This was the principle he followed for managing his business empire. I followed his example," says Sudarshan who financed his schools with savings from tuition fees.

The author of 25 books on yoga and metaphysics who addresses his growing number of followers through the television medium, Sudarshan has moved onto philosophy and the larger welfare of mankind. "I have done my bit for education and am doing what I like now. The institutions set up by me are for the nation and for the people. I believe they will be taken care of even without my physical presence," he says.

Arun Srivastav (Patna)

SGI builder

Dr. Sanjay B. Chordiya, founder president and chairman of the Pune-headquartered Suryadatta Group of Institutes (SGI), is a dreamer with a vision. "I would like to produce dynamic, world class, tech savvy leaders for corporates, to create wealth for the country," says Prof. Chordiya outlining his institutional philosophy.

Chordiya’s clear vision and sense of direction have stood him in good stead. In 1998 he promoted the Suryadatta Education Foundation which has ballooned into SGI comprising 13 institutes offering postgraduate study programmes in various disciplines, including business management. Chordiya, who garnered 22 years of experience in Indian industry working with blue-chip companies including Force Motors, Jaihind Industries and Pinacle Industries Ltd, is particularly pleased that the AIMA-Business Standard Indian Management Journal listed the Suryadatta Institute of Management (SIM) in its ‘A’ category of India’s top 25 B-schools in September 2004 as did Business India in October 2004.

"We are proud that SIM was ranked among the top 10 B-schools in terms of industry interface, admissions and placements in the AIMA survey. Moreover, SIM was also listed among India top 50 B-schools by the Dalal Street Journal in January this year," says Chordiya.

In July-August this year 360 postgrad students enrolled for full-time management programmes, with another 360 pursuing part-time courses in the Suryadatta group’s five branches in the city. "We have scholars from across India and abroad. Currently students from 32 countries, including Thailand, Singapore, USA, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, Poland, Japan are studying in our institute," says Chordiya.

According to the perspective plan drawn by Chordiya, SGI will be among the top-rated educational groups in the world offering contemporary education, high quality research, training and consultancy services to suit the changing needs of industry and society. Moreover plans to shift SGI to a composite nine-acre residential campus at Bawdhan-Pashan, about 20 km east of Pune, have been finalised. "Over the years SGI has been producing multi-faceted professionals in diverse fields through absorption of emerging technologies and developing their critical faculties to understand the rapidly changing needs of the complex global economy. SGI graduates are confident, creative and proactive professionals," he says.

Proof that SGI and SIM in particular have made a favourable impact on Indian industry is the placement record of Suryadatta institutes. Among corporates that have snapped up SIM graduates are the Aditya Birla Group, RPG, Saint Gobain, KPIT, Coca-Cola, J.K.Industries, MBO Computers, ICICI Prudential, Citibank, Force Motors, Mphasis BFL, Adani Exports, Tata Teleservices, Taj Group, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC Bank.

Michael Gonsalves (Pune)

Technical writing teacher

The 40 percent plus year-on-year growth of India’s leading IT and ITES companies has sparked a massive demand for trained technical writers. This new genre of writers are employed by software and electronic manufacturing firms to explain hi-tech products/ processes in simple language to corporate customers. But given contemporary India’s unprecedented shortage of skilled professionals and dearth of quality education institutions, technical writing training colleges are springing up across the country. The Writers Block (TWB), a Bangalore-based technical writing training institute is all set for its first anniversary with a celebratory get-together of its 30 staff, 200 students and committed recruiters on November 4.

"During my 18 year experience in technical writing, I found it very difficult to recruit good writers. We usually hired English graduates and spent a lot of time and money to train them for the job. That’s why I decided to promote TWB," recalls Helen Shukla, a commerce graduate of Bangalore University who worked as a technical writer for several leading software companies including iCode, SAP Labs and Wipro.

Knowledge Wear pioneer

Mumbai-based Sudheendra Hayagreev has an involvement in education which is unusual and quite unique in India. "For the past several years during the months of May and June, we have been getting sporadic requests from our outlets asking for school uniforms," says Hayagreev, the marketing director of Giny and Jony Apparel Pvt. Ltd (annual sales: Rs.80 crore), a company which has been manufacturing children’s apparel for the past 26 years. "Quite obviously there’s a newly emergent segment — of school uniforms — waiting to be explored. But we didn’t want to just get into it without doing some research first," he says.

Following a countrywide research study over the past year to ascertain the fabric and design preferences of school managements, parents and students — especially in IB schools — the company introduced its own range of school uniforms branded Knowledge Wear. "We are the first company in India to produce ready-to-wear uniforms for children from KG to class XII," says Hayagreev.

For schools prêt-a-porter uniforms make sense as they are completely standardised in terms of fabric and design and offer the economies of scale. "With new quality and price conscious schools springing up across India, there’s a huge potential market for ready-made uniforms. Therefore we set up a new manufacturing line at our 190,000 sq. ft facility in Daman and Baddi in Himachal Pradesh to manufacture Gini and Jony knowledge wear. Moreover we have already signed up with the entire Kidzee chain of play schools which have 471 franchised schools countrywide," he says.

A business management (marketing) graduate of the K.J. Somaiya Institute, Mumbai, Hayagreev brings a wealth of experience to Gini and Jony with whom he signed up in 2004, having worked with Mafatalal Group, Maxwell Industries and ATL Textiles for over 15 years. "What attracted me to Gini and Jony is its uncompromising stand on quality and interest in education. As our involvement with Indian education grows, we are looking at sponsorship of student programmes and awarding scholarship as well. There’s a great future for the world’s youngest child population and we want to give India’s children nothing but the best," says Hayagreev.

Gaver Chatterjee (Mumbai)