Pradeep Singh is the Bangalore-based founder-CEO of Pengala Learning Pvt. Ltd (aka Vidyanext, estb.2010), an ed-tech company with 25 centres across the city offering class IV-XI students of all examination boards, supplementary learning services. Through its software app which can be downloaded on any Android device, Vidyanext tutors — whose services are available at the company’s centres or online — deliver tuition mapped with the syllabuses of all major exam boards — CISCE, CBSE and several state exam boards using a wide range of IT learning tools (VN Diagnostics, VN Video, VN Worksheets, MemoryBuddy, Vidyabot, VN Rewards, InTouch). Currently, the company’s 420 maths, physics, chemistry and biology tutors provide mentoring and coaching services to over 1,000 students in Bangalore.

Newspeg. Early this year, Singh launched a recruitment drive for tutors to teach from the comfort of their homes using the Vidyanext learning app. Over the past six months, Vidyanext has signed up 300 carefully selected and trained teachers to provide supplementary tuition to student learners across the city. Students’ subscription fees range from Rs.800-4,000 per subject per month.

History. A highly-qualified engineering and management alumnus of IIT-Delhi and Harvard University, Singh acquired a decade of valuable experience in the US working with IT behemoth Microsoft, before turning serial entrepreneur and promoting Aditi Technologies, a Bangalore-based IT services company in 1994. Subsequently, he was a co-promoter of Talisma Corporation Pvt. Ltd (estb.1998) which was sold in 2005 following which he launched Pengala Learning in 2010. Since then over the past two years, Singh and his 60-member team designed online test preparation systems for Aakash Educational Services and Brilliant Tutorials before venturing into the hybrid learning centres and online supplementary tuitions business.

Direct talk. “I am driven by the mission to develop scalable solutions for the enormous education deficit in India. Technology has changed almost everything in our lives but education. In Pengala Learning, we believe IT-enabled supplementary education can change the status quo and make up for the inefficient and indifferent pedagogies of schools. Therefore, I teamed up with an old friend Will Poole, managing-director of Unitus Seed Fund and formerly vice president at Microsoft, to promote Pengala Learning Pvt. Ltd in 2010,” says Singh.

Future plans. Singh’s business plan is to spread the network of Vidyanext tutors to within walking distance of every child countrywide. “I am confident we have developed a supplementary education model which will enable every student to improve her conceptual grasp of every subject included in her board exam syllabus, and become fully prepared for higher education,” says Singh.

Fair winds!
Paromita Sengupta (Bangalore) 

 

School leadership trainer

Mumbai-based Dr. Hiru Bijlani is the exclusive India licensee of Leadership Management International (LMI), USA. Established in 1966 by renowned US-based self-development guru Paul J. Meyer (1928-2009), LMI is a pioneer provider of leadership and personal development training programmes to enable corporate and institutional leaders achieve measurable personal goals and professional success. Currently, LMI programmes are translated into more than 26 languages, and used in over 80 countries worldwide.

Newspeg. In March, Bijlani launched LMI leadership training programmes for school leaders including promoters, principals and teachers. The programmes include strategic planning, executive mentoring, sales training, public speaking and ethical framework development modules.

History. A physics graduate of Jaihind College with a Ph D in business policy and administration from Bombay University, Bijlani acquired valuable business management and people development experience while serving as the general manager of automobile major Sah and Sanghi and the Al Shirawi Group, Dubai. In 1985, he went solo and promoted Zenith Consultants Pvt. Ltd, Mumbai, a management training and consulting company.

Since then, Zenith Consultants has provided HR and general management services to 100 corporates in over 15 countries. In 1995, Bijlani launched LMI India as a division of Zenith Consultants (subsumed by the newly promoted Goru Training Pvt. Ltd last year) to provide leadership and personnel development services to India Inc. Over the past two decades, more than 15,000 managers of the Aditya Birla Group, Siemens, Reliance Logistics, Indian Oil, ONGC, Tata Group and Welspun among other corporates, have been mentored and trained by LMI (India).

Direct talk. “India’s education institutions — schools, colleges and universities — are experiencing a huge leadership training and HR services lacuna which is adversely impacting learning outcomes. This prompted me to adapt LMI training programmes for the education sector in India. The mission of this new division is to develop leaders to head globally benchmarked education institutions. Therefore, I am confident of a positive response to our new initiative,” says Bijlani.

Future plans. Even as he rolls out his education institutional leadership training and teacher development initiative, Bijlani is also finalising the blueprint of a new division under the aegis of LMI (India) — Family Management International (FMI) — a parenting programme enabling parents to encourage, support, and motivate children to attain their highest potential. “India has the world’s largest youth population. But to develop this abundant human capital, education leaders as well as parents have to nurture students to develop critical thinking and cognitive skills. That’s the motivation behind the FMI programme,” says Bijlani.

Wind in your sails!
Bharati Thakore (Mumbai)

 

Visionary educationist

Jasmine Gandhi (nee Singh) is founder-director of three education institutions run by the Noida-based G.D. Education Society (estb. 1988), including the Billabong High International School, Kangaroo Kids preschool and Sanchetna Centre for Students with Special Needs — all sited on a single campus of the society.

Newspeg. Following Kangaroo Kids, Sector 34 being voted the #1 preschool in Noida in the EW India Preschool Rankings 2015, the first batch of 22 students from Billabong High cleared the CBSE’s class X school-leaving exams with A and A+ grades in March.

History. A humanities alumna of Lucknow University, while she was reading for a postgrad degree in education and after her marriage to Noida-based businessman Parmjit Gandhi, her father-in-law, M.S. Gandhi, a business leader himself, encouraged her to promote a preschool under the aegis of the G.D. Education Society. Keenly interested in education herself, in 2005 Jasmine signed up with the Mumbai-based Kangaroo Kids Education Pvt. Ltd (KKEL) and started an eponymous preschool under the franchise model. Satisfied with the pedagogy and philosophy of KKEL, two years later the G.D. Education Society promoted Billabong High School, Noida. Currently, this K-12 school affiliated with the Delhi-based CBSE and UK-based CIE exam boards, has 700 children mentored by 100 teachers on its muster rolls.

Direct talk. “I always entertained the dream of running a school, and my in-laws encouraged me fully. So, once we got off to a good start with the Kangaroo Kid s franchise, we lost no time in expanding capacity. KKEL’s policy of inclusive education and pedagogy for primary education fitted in with our philosophy of school education. This prompted us to apply for KKEL’s Billabong franchise as well,” says Jasmine.

Seriously committed to providing education to the neglected child population of India, Jasmine promoted her third venture in school education — the Sanchetna Centre for Students with Special Needs in 2009. Established with the “invaluable aid and advice” of Delhi-based child psychologist Joysree Mukherjee, the Sanchetna Centre provides one-on-one therapeutic services including sensory integration, speech and language therapy, psychological intervention and skills education to 65 students of whom 25 are gradually being mainstreamed into primary-secondary schooling.

Future plans. “Preparing young children for the future and witnessing their step-by-step transformation into promising students ready for higher education is extremely gratifying. At Sanchetna Centre, we make all kids feel they’re special,” says Jasmine. 
A visionary educationist indeed!

Autar Nehru (Delhi)

 

Swiss summer school host

Balz Muller is dean of the Lyceum Alpinum Zouz (LAZ, estb.1904), one of Switzerland’s top international boarding schools sited in the picturesque alpine village of Zuoz, near the famous ski resort of St. Moritz.

A German language, literature and history graduate of the University of Bern, Muller began his career teaching German and history at LAZ in 1985. Subsequently, he taught at the Freies Gymnasium, a well-known private high school in the heart of Zurich before returning to LAZ as deputy head in 2008. He was appointed dean in 2014 and still teaches the unique Swiss Matura (the obligatory exam secondary students have to write to qualify for university admission) offered by the school.

Newspeg. Muller was in Mumbai in April to promote two short-duration summer camps for international students in July and August. For students in the 10-15 age group, there’s the Summer Camp & Junior Golf Academy (July 17-August 13, fee: Rs.2.79-3.33 lakh) and for teens in the 14-17 age group, a preparatory course for the IB diploma programme of the Geneva-based International Baccalaureate Organisation, or the ‘A’ level programme of CIE, UK.

In this two-weeks course the academy offers intensive study of mathematics, English and development of study skills. The all-inclusive fee covers 50 lessons and supervised study groups, accommodation in double rooms and full board, starting at Rs.2.65 lakh. The sports programme includes sailing, swimming, mountain biking, hiking and golf lessons delivered by coaches of the Swiss Professional Golfers Association.

Direct talk. “The size of the batches is limited to 20 students and typically children and teens from European and Asian countries attend our summer camp programmes. Zuoz is a popular health destination due to our high altitude — 5,590 ft above sea level, low pollen and dry, sunny climate,” says Muller.

A special attraction for Indian students, says Muller, is that LAZ is the sole academic institution in Switzerland (pop.8.4 million) which offers cricket in its curriculum and has been hosting the annual Hollings Cricket and Youth Cricket Festivals. “A cricket-on-ice tournament is also staged by one of our alumni and attracts teams from New Zealand, Australia and Switzerland,” he adds.

Future plans. With India’s rising  international profile and the emergence of an economically strong and growing upper middle class, Muller believes the latter will appreciate the opportunities at LAZ’s summer camps. “We want to attract students from India for our diverse and exciting summer programmes which have a lot to offer to Indian students and their families,” he says.
Bienvenue!

Dipta Joshi (Mumbai)

 

Committed educationist

An alumna of Government Law College, Mumbai and IIM-Ahmedabad, Kolkata-born Darshan Shah is founder-director of the Weavers Studio Resource Centre (WSRC, estb. 2007), an NGO providing basic amenities including education and health, clean drinking water, and sanitation services to a cluster of nine villages in the Bhangore taluka of West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district. Through its numerous development programmes, WSRC has improved the lives of an estimated 4,500 citizens including 1,700 children.

Newspeg. WSRC is planning to scale up its IT learning and training programmes this year. Classes currently being held at the panchayat offices will be shifted to government primary schools.

History. Darshan Shah’s textile venture started in a 200 sq. ft studio in 1993, where young women from different social strata were trained in the language and aesthetics of India’s rich textiles heritage. That space is now a 2,000 sq. ft studio in Kolkata which displays and sells high-quality handcrafted textiles.

In 2007, Darshan promoted the non-profit WSRC. Starting modestly by providing safe drinking water to two government schools with 250 children, the centre has steadily expanded its operations to equip all 13 public schools in South 24 Parganas with classroom furniture, substantially improving the classroom ambience and student learning outcomes in nine adopted villages of Bhangore. WSRC’s annual Rs.10 lakh budget is funded by the for-profit Weavers Studio and individual donors.

Direct talk. “The profit-making unit of Weavers Studio, which distributes textiles in India and abroad and has an annual revenue of Rs.9 crore, helped me to fund and provide basic necessities to women and children in particular. I believe we have succeeded in sparking children’s interest in education, training women weavers and enabling more than 1,000 women to enroll in the adult education programmes of the state government,” says Shah, who has invested her work and administrative experience with Oxford Publishing House, Hindustan Lever and Apple Computers (1981-1993) into her NGO.

Future plans: Darshan believes that education and health of women and children are the prerequisites of national development. “We plan to network with other NGOs and the state government of West Bengal to launch continuously improving education, healthcare and associated programmes for uplifting women and children in rural India. That’s the socio-economic development model the nation needs,” says Shah.
Right on, Sister!

Baishali Mukherjee (Kolkata)

 

Role-play learning enabler

Viraj Jit Singh is chief marketing officer of KidZania India, an indoor educational and entertainment theme park enabling children to learn through real life role-play activities in over 100 careers and industries. KidZania is a division of the Mumbai-based ImagiNation Edutainment India Pvt. Ltd (IEIPL, estb.2008), the India franchisee of the Mexico-based KidZania S.A. de C.V. Currently, 24 KidZania theme parks are operational in 19 cities round the world and have attracted 55 million visitors.

In India, KidZania theme parks are up and running in Mumbai and Noida (Delhi NCR). Spread over 75,000 sq. ft. and 96,000 sq. ft respectively, these theme parks are miniature cities complete with paved roads, battery-operated cars, buildings, and their own currency. KidZania parks offer simulated role playing activities for over 100 careers — pilot, surgeon, radio-jockey, fire-fighter, etc — in replicas of real-world industries and services including automobile, retail, restaurants, etc. Entry fees range from Rs.600-1,350 per capita.

Newspeg. KidZania Delhi NCR has signed up 50 schools in the first month (May) of its operations.

Genesis. Mexico City-based entrepreneur Xavier Lopez Ancona (an alumnus of the Kellogg School of Management, Illinois and former vice president of General Electric) established the first KidZania centre in 1999 in the Santa Fe shopping mall in Mexico City under the name and style of La Ciudad de los Ninos (‘The City of Children’).

KidZania was brought to India by ImagiNation Edutainment India (co-promoted by Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and Singapore-based KidZ Inc) in 2008 and the first Kidzania theme park was inaugurated in April 2013 in R City Mall, Ghatkopar (Mumbai). KidZania, Noida was launched in May 2016. Since then, these Kidzania theme parks have attracted over 300,000 visitors.

Direct talk. “KidZania is a preferred destination for school children to experience what they learn in their classrooms. The real-life role play activities are designed by child psychologists and educators to develop children’s creativity, critical thinking, communication and problem-solving skills. KidZania complements the school curriculum,” says Singh, an alumnus of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad who acquired valuable business management experience with ESPN Star Sports, Reliance Broadcasting and MTV India Viacom 18, before he was appointed chief marketing officer of KidZania India in 2012.

Future plans. With the popularity of the KidZania parks in Mumbai and Noida rising vertiginously, Singh is set to expand its operations in India. “We plan to open our next KidZania theme park in South India which will be operational by end 2017 or early 2018,” he says enthusiastically.

Swati Roy (Delhi)