MAKING EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING WORK
“The purpose of education must coincide with the larger life purpose of those being educated.” This firmly held belief is what drove the founder of the Heritage Schools, Shri N.C. Jain, to enter the field of education over 20 years ago. His philosophy, passion and belief have been the guide for countless people to find their own truth in their lives. A true visionary, he inspired the next level of changes in the education ecosystem. Known for his immense work in philanthropy, he contributed to multiple social causes, with a focus on education and healthcare for the underprivileged.
Alumnus of Harvard University, Co-Founder I Am A Teacher and Co-chair of FICCI’s School Education Committee – FICCI Arise
Manit has been instrumental in transforming The Heritage Schools into a leading group of schools in India. Manit has been actively involved in strategic decisions regarding curriculum development, talent attraction, teacher capacity development, parent involvement, and many other areas.
An empathetic change-maker with a robust investment of practice and perfection in education, Manit championed the cause of experiential learning launching it successfully in the mainstream environment.
Manit envisions a conducive learning environment where children's learning outcome is assessed through exams that test a child's comprehension skills and socio-emotional learning rather than memory. With a vision of education that’s necessary for the 21st Century, he recognizes that children today need to learn skills both ‘foundational skills’ of literacy and numeracy as well as ‘higher-order’ cognitive skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, and social and emotional skills such as cultural awareness and empathy, perseverance and grit, teamwork, leadership, communication.
“Education is an inward journey which manifests itself in the world outside. It reaches its destination only when one builds an insight where there is no memory, no remembrance, no conclusion, no anticipation and no reaction.”
Ms. Neena Kaul, an educationist truly believes that education is the only possibility that can create human beings with goodness that arises out of harmony between mind and heart, where there is craving to learn and grow with objectivity, and an urge to seek a balanced and contended life. Children if educated well can transform the society into a desirable abode.
With this vision at its core, Ms. Neena Kaul has served as an educator for the past 26 years in several roles starting from that of a Teacher, Principal and a Director. Her passion for teaching and her love for children got her to work “with” children and not just “for” them. With Masters in English Literature and Bachelor’s Degree in Science, she became a Principal at the age of 26 and has to her credit the remarkable achievement of establishing four top quality schools as the founder Principal.
Vision exists when people in an organisation share an explicit agreement on the values, beliefs, purposes and goals and when it is visible unanimously in ones thoughts, words and actions. Creating that vision is a venture which she could successfully achieve in all her organisations.
zz. Sunita Swaraj is a firm believer in the counsel from the sacred Bhagavad Gita: “You have a right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty.” This is the work ethic that informs her passion for teaching and education. Along with her 16 years of experience in teaching and school administration, Ms. Swaraj is an advocate for a well-rounded personality development of the child. Under her stewardship you shall find the campus abuzz with student clubs and guest lectures, speakers and events to allow students to develop life skills that serve them well in life, work and play.
Being the daughter of a defence officer, she had a disciplined upbringing. “When you’ve got solid commitment and solid objectives, you’ve got a much better chance to reach your goal.” she says.
Alumnus of Harvard University
Smriti Jain is the co-founder of ‘I am a Teacher’ (IAAT), a not-for-profit organisation that aims to prepare a critical mass of teachers that can lead change in and through classroo She headed the Middle School at Heritage Xperiential Learning School, leading a team of 50 teachers. She stepped into this role at a critical stage where the Middle School was being transformed from a conventional programme to a more experiential, progressive, relevant and child-centred programme. In the last few years, she has worked extensively with teachers and facilitated several workshops for teachers.
Alumnus of Harvard University
Rajesh Jain has over 25 years of experience in setting up and leading organisations across diverse sectors such as real estate, education, export manufacturing and information & technology. Apart from this, he has also provided direction to a multitude of social initiatives in the healthcare and education verticals. A second-generation entrepreneur, he provides strategic direction to all entities under the Conscient umbrella. In the education space, he has also co-founded the Heritage School in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi in 1999.
Specialist in Digital Literacy and Maker - Centered Pedagogy
Noora joins us from The University of Pennsylvania where she holds an M.S.Ed in Learning Sciences and Technology. At Heritage Xperiential Learning School, she pioneers Design Thinking and Maker Mindset as part of the curriculum, further driving the school's experiential and project-based pedagogy. She is a published learning scientist who has led multiple initiatives on imparting mobile computing skills to middle school students across public and private schools in the United States of America. She has led research on the Milken-funded project, Code for Philadelphia, a curriculum that focused on building students' engagement in STEM through the creation of mobile apps. Her work has been presented at Computer Supported Collaborative Learning Conference in London and published in the International Journal of Learning Sciences.
Author and Consultant on Leadership Development, Empowerment and Gender Discrimination
Ariana is the creator of the Human Framework, and works with adults and children at all levels of the school community to foster emotional intelligence, leadership, conflict resolution skills, and mindfulness of social-conditioning through workshops and curriculum development. She formerly worked for the Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana in Uttar Pradesh as a Program Expert on Leadership and Communications where she led trainings for young women on menstrual hygiene and discriminatory social myths. She has authored a graphic novel, 'Spreading Your Wings,' to inspire mindset shifts around menstrual hygiene and the female body, which is published by Zubaan Publishers. She has been a visiting faculty for I am a Teacher for the last 5 years, in addition to working as the Deputy Director at The United State of Women, Washington, D.C. While Deputy Director she collaborated with the Obama Administration's White House Council on Women and Girls to launch the first United State of Women Summit. She is a graduate of Carleton College, USA.
Educator with over 23 years of experience in primary school education
Nilam Sharma brings with her over 23 years of dedicated work in the field of education with 10 years as the Head of the Primary Program at Heritage Xperiential Learning School. Her main contribution to primary school education has been to enable learning that demands dialogue with the sciences, humanities, art, literature and poetry through stories, music and play in a dream to serve childhood itself. In her pursuit of quality education, she has travelled extensively within the country and abroad to learn and expand her horizons.
Over 15 years of experience in communications and advocacy
Sulagna has extensive experience in consumer marketing and communication. She has spent over 15 years creating and implementing brand, marketing and communications strategy in companies like Standard Chartered, Tata AIG Life Insurance and DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance. She is passionate about studying consumer behaviour and its application to brand dynamics. She has a graduate degree from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai and an MBA degree in Marketing from Boston University, USA.
Specialist in organizational management
Mudit has led educational start-ups and a chain of schools over the last 10 years. His aspiration has been to offer equal opportunities of learning to students from metros and smallest towns of India. These institutions were recognised for their progressive pedagogical practices like learning by doing, discovery of self, mind-body fitness, social responsibility, interdisciplinary and socio-cultural based curriculum and instruction design-based education delivery. An engineer with a post graduation degree from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, he feels fortunate to have received opportunities to serve the nation first as Aircraft Design Engineer at HAL, Ministry of Defence and then as a Practice Head (Govt.) of a global consulting firm. He cherishes his deep engagements with several Navratna PSUs, Scientific Laboratories, Police forces and large Indian conglomerates. Mudit was invited to serve in Indian Institute of Management, Indore Industry Institute Office. He is currently in the Core Committee of National Council of Teacher Education(NCTE), Govt of India initiative to build "institutions of excellence".
With more than 18 years of experience in the field of classroom instruction and curriculum planning, Ms. Yakshi Gulati is a passionate educationist and an influential leader. Her work experience ranges from planning an effective classroom engagements to running a complete organizational structure competently. She understands the larger purpose of schooling and education in life and how meaningful experiences can leave a profound impact on young learners. She believes in making each educational moment a joyful experience and memory for all students.
Her journey through these years has seen diverse changes and evolutionary practices in the field of education. Ms. Yakshi believes that the purpose of learning is to empower all stakeholders to facilitate a collaborative learning environment. Her core emphasis is on creating scope for autonomy in learning through practices that promote self-directed learning. She believes true educational practices are built on the inherent strengths of every learner and pave way for each one to excel.
Yakshi’s own academic accomplishments include a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Delhi University, Bachelor’s in Education from Jamia Milia Islamia, a Master’s degree in English from Kurukshetra University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Administration from Symbiosis, Pune. With all her educational credentials and a rich experience of working with students, Yakshi tries to innovate ways to translate educational theories into teaching and learning practices.
Disclaimer : All efforts have been made to exclude photographs of children whose parents did not grant us permission, any inclusion is inadvertent and regretted
2023 Copyright @theheritageschool . All rights reserved.
