Sited on a 150,000 sq. ft immaculately maintained campus in Mumbai’s northern suburb of Malad, Witty International School (WIS, estb.2001) was recently (January) conferred the Cleanest School Award 2017 of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. 

Established with the objective of providing “holistic education that enables all-round growth and a better understanding of cultural, moral and social contexts in a global world,” over the past 17 years, this co-ed day school has earned itself a good reputation in the country’s commercial capital for providing internationally benchmarked ICT (information communication technologies)-driven education to its 1,500 students mentored by 140 teachers. Affiliated with the UK-based Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE), WIS was awarded #3 rank in the category of ‘Emerging High Potential Schools’ in the EducationWorld Grand Jury Awards 2017-18. 

Promoted by well-known educationists Dr. Vinay and Dr. Raina Jain, WIS is a constituent of the Witty Group of education institutions comprising four K-12 schools in three cities (Mumbai, Udaipur and Bhilwara (Rajasthan)) and seven preschools (Witty Kids) with an aggregate enrolment of 5,000 students.

“The mission of the Witty Group of schools is to promote academic excellence and enable children to realise their cognitive, social, emotional and physical development potential. We aspire to nurture students who are good communicators, knowledgeable inquirers, open-minded, reflective thinkers, and risk-takers who will succeed in their chosen professions and vocations,” says Dr. Vinay Jain, promoter of the Witty Group. Also CEO and managing director of VJTF Eduservices Pvt. Ltd, an education consultancy, Vinay is a popular motivational speaker and trainer who has conducted over 450 seminars for 500,000 parents countrywide.

The first K-12 education venture of the Witty Group, WIS, Malad, quickly established a reputation for providing an intensively researched curriculum, continuous pedagogy improvements, enabling infrastructure to boost learning outcomes, and innovative initiatives such as enrichment hour, motivation classes, finishing school and language development programmes. 

“Our prime objective was — and remains — to provide a learning environment which stimulates and develops the intellectual, artistic, kinesthetic and sports intelligences of our students. To this end, we provide a well-designed curriculum with strong emphasis on experiential learning, a 1:10 teacher-pupil ratio and high-quality co-curricular and sports education programmes. The outcome of this integrated education philosophy is that our students excel in academics as well as sports and cultural competitions at the state and national levels,” says Bijo Kurian, an alumnus of Kerala University and founder principal of WIS, Malad. 

The school’s application of best practices in education provision has paid off handsomely with students recording impressive results in board exams. In 2016-17, the average score of the 130 students who wrote the class X IGCSE exam was 85 percent while the 30 students who wrote the class XII A levels averaged 75 percent. 
Yet perhaps the most distinguishing feature of WIS is its purpose-built campus equipped with state-of-the-art academic and sports facilities. The school’s fully air-conditioned eight-storey building offers 52 well-ventilated classrooms fitted with interactive white boards, three science labs, a 150-seat amphitheatre, 160-seat auditorium, an IT lab, a specialised remedial centre with facilities for occupational therapy counseling and specially designed thematic rooms. The 3,500 sq. ft library/reading lounge — with an indoor waterfall — hosts a collection of 10,000-plus titles and subscribes to 800 journals. 

Sports education is also accorded high importance by the management, with play facilities supplemented with professional coaching offered in several sports including football, basketball, volleyball, athletics, martial arts, table tennis, throw ball, chess, kick boxing, taekwondo, roller skating, yoga, swimming and aerobics. WIS students have won awards and encomiums in gymnastics, table tennis, badminton, football, chess, athletics, and roller skating in district, state and national tournaments. 

Similarly, the co-curricular education menu is extensive and includes theatre studies, Model United Nations debates, Junior Red Cross, and the popular ‘WIS leadership series’ under which guest speakers interact with students on a wide range of subjects such as technology, astronomy, creative writing, and social etiquette. “Our curriculum is designed to develop critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration skills. For instance, the first period in every class is dedicated to students discussing current socio-economic issues. We also encourage and facilitate international student exchange programmes,” says Kurian. 

Another important focus of the school is professional development of its 140 teachers. The group’s Witty Institute of Teacher Training offers regular in-service programmes to keep teachers abreast of contemporary pedagogies, practices and ed-tech innovations.

With WIS fast building a reputation for providing internationally benchmarked schooling at affordable suburban prices, the management is determined to stay ahead by introducing a slew of innovations including curriculum enrichment programmes. “We have set ourselves the goal of being ranked the premier CAIE-affiliated school of Mumbai within the next two years. WIS is also a candidate school for the IB Diploma programme which we hope to introduce next year,” says Kurian.