Dedicated principals have a firm vision for their schools. They create a strong gameplan and a definite structure to ensure the development of the students and the teachers. These principals are determined to transform students into responsible professionals of tomorrow. They are the torchbearers of education, enlightenment, and innovation.
One such determined principal who is taking every necessary step to uplift the education sector is none other than Mr. Bhavesh Dinesh Bhalerao, the Principal of Indian School Bousher, Muscat. He possesses over 20 years of qualitative experience in teaching/ student management and administration.
With his focused endeavours, he wants to usher in an era of academic superiority and quality extra-curricular and cocurricular experiences.
In an interview with The Knowledge Review, Mr. Bhavesh shares about his journey as an educator, his different experiences, his opinions about the education system, and so on. Following are the highlights of the interview:
1. Please introduce yourself to our readers and your professional journey so far.
My journey began in the cosmopolitan city of Mumbai, where I was born and brought up in a middle-class family environment. The value of education was imbibed in me at a very early age by my loving parents. It was no surprise to anyone that I slowly but steadily moved up the ladder of success. It is apt to describe me as a simple and hardworking human being with very high goals.
There were many paths open; the one I chose is education. The crossing over from being a student to the profession of a teacher commenced after the completion of my diploma in education. As a primary section teacher, I could see myself growing with my students.
The thirst for knowledge propelled me into continuing my education, and it is with humble modesty that I stand proud with B.A, B. Ed, M.A(Edu), M.A (His), M.A (Eng), and Diploma in School Management, currently pursuing Phd.
‘Work is worship’ – it is true in every sense of the word and that is what I have always practiced in my life. The skills and performance that I exhibited had me reach greater heights in my life journey. The State Board, CBSE, and ICSE are the Boards of Education I have been closely associated with and have been a self-competitive leader in the education sector for the last fifteen years. Guiding and pushing each member of my team to aim higher is my passion and in my career, I am proud to see many of my team members occupying distinguished positions in various organisations. In the recent past, I worked as an advisory board of director of five schools. Training is my forte. I have conducted training sessions for 5000 teachers on various topics via more than hundred seminars/workshops.
I was invited by the Ministry of Israel to present a paper and to discuss on innovation in education. It was a memorable experience and a rare opportunity to be one of the two selected from India.
During my free time and on an honorary basis, currently I am working on educational projects in collaboration with delegates from USA, Peru, Nepal, Cambodia.
I had the opportunity to work as a Principal at Podar International School, very renowned school in India. Currently, I am working as a Principal at Indian School Bousher, Muscat, again a very renowned school in the Middle East.
2. What inspired you to become an educator? Would you like to tell our audience who were your role models growing up?
‘Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world’ APJ Abdul Kalam. The life of Dr. Kalam, the way he found a place in every Indian heart world-wide, by just being himself, by sheer determination, a personality disseminating humility were all the attributes I tried to imbibe in myself. Dr. Kalam was the source of inspiration which compelled me to aim and climb higher while keeping humility and kindness as my constant companions. Education has always been a noble profession and the sense of fulfilment it gives within me cannot be measured. To be a sailor on a boat in this sea of education brings a feeling of patriotism, that I am doing my bit for humanity in this lifetime.
3. Kindly share your views regarding interactive, online educational content and how it is affecting students and modern classrooms. How are you helping make educational technology usable and applicable to school or college education?
The pandemic has brought an unprecedented importance of technology in education. The technology was there, but not to the scale it is now. The online classes conducted by our school are one of a kind in the whole of the country. The facilitators have taken up training, got certified as Google Level 1 Educator, various innovations like having assemblies, sports day, proctored online exams, parent-teacher meetings every month, etc. were all innovative and mind blowing.
The next step is to keep up with the pace that the world is and be the winners by having h olistic education. Students have discovered a world where everything is available at the touch of a button.
They are tech savvy; a word of caution is necessary here to help them recognise the good from the bad.
4. Which branch of educational philosophy do you subscribe to and implement in your classrooms? And why?
In our classrooms, we implement and subscribe to the Pedagogic Philosophy because our classrooms need to be interactive and there should be give and take between a facilitator and students. Teaching and learning is not a one way traffic, it should always be two ways. We try to implement a mixture of two or three philosophies so that our students have cognitive as well as affective development. We are judiciously following the 6 Es of learning, namely – Engage, Excite, Explain, Explore, Expand, and Evaluate.
5. Education is considered a tool for empowerment. What effort do you and your institution take to make sure that education is provided to those who need it?
The mission and vision of our institution is in itself the answer to this query. We have promised ourselves – the entire Bousherian family – that we will not give up on any student, we will give our hundred percent effort, and guide and empower our students with the holistic education, academic, physical, and psychological to move forward in their life.
6. What is the one thing you would like to change in India’s higher education system?
India’s higher education system has all the things in the right places, but the students lack the practical experience. I am a true believer of skill-based education. It is one of the various projects I am doing research on to promote. Secondly, I feel we must promote research-based education and we should encourage and support students for more and more research work.
7. What advice would you like to give to those who aspire to step into the field of higher education?
We owe to society, to give back what the society or the world has given us. It is our duty to build the citizens of tomorrow, with a sense of purpose, responsibility, and righteousness. We should take a pledge everyday to be true to one’s profession. We should contribute to society, the nation and the world at large whichever way we can. For this, we should not depend on others. It is rightly said by our father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhiji ‘Be the change you want to see in others.’ This is what we should strive for.
