Nari Shakti are the most powerful force for social change. Since ancient times, everybody has heard and read about the great histories of women who pursue education, drive change, and shatter all the social barriers erected for them.

Education plays a very important role as it makes aware about the equal rights on everything which brings subtle development in the society. And nowadays, women are spearheading in each and every field and setting new milestones in the life which influence others as well to work hard and achieve success in their life

Dr Rosetta Williams, the Chief Education Officer of Dalmia Vidya Mandir, is paving the way for success in the field of education by empowering youth and igniting the same spark of power in everybody.

Dr Williams stands strong and influences many others in society due largely to her great strength to overcome the impossible and drive to introduce innovation in the education field. She is a distinguished educator who encourages young people to pursue excellence via hands-on learning.

In our search for the Most Influential Women Leaders Shaping India’s Future, 2023, we came across Dr Williams, who shared her successful career experience with us along with some exclusive information about the schools where she is working, with The Knowledge Review.

Dive in to learn more details about Dr Williams.

Kindly walk us through your professional journey from its inception to being one of the most trusted chains of schools in the country.

I am a Delhi-based CEO of the Dalmia Vidya Mandir (DVM, estb.1924) chain of eight schools promoted by the Dalmia Bharat Group of cement, sugar and refractory companies. Currently, the CBSE-affiliated Dalmia Vidya Mandir schools educate an aggregate 15,000 students in six states (Rajasthan, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Bihar and Meghalaya) across the country.

In July, DVM schools became the first countrywide to introduce formal teaching of a Desh Bhakti (patriotic) curriculum named Bharat Gaurav Yatra. Children learn about India’s heritage, history and heroes through print narratives and animated videos. Currently, this curriculum is for primary and middle school classes. We will soon add modules for secondary and higher secondary students. We plan to offer this carefully designed curriculum to 5,000 schools countrywide through free-of-charge licensing agreements.

An alumna of Agra and Middlesex (UK) universities, I have brought over 30 years of rich K-12 academic and administrative experience in India and abroad. I started my career with the reputed Delhi Public School Society (estb.1939) where I served as founder-principal of several DPS schools in Delhi NCR, UAE and Singapore (1991-2010) followed by a six-year tenure (2010-2016) as regional director (north India) of Zee Learn. In 2018, I was appointed as the CEO of the DVM schools chain with the mandate to rollout operations countrywide.

Tell us about your institute’s mission, vision, and core values.

The Mission, Vision, Core values and objective of Dalmia Vidya Mandir schools are for the all-around growth and development of the students.

Our mission is to inspire and nourish young minds that pursue greatness via hands-on instruction, in order to help the children develop into progressive, thoughtful, and sensitive citizens of the world.

Our vision is to provide accessible, affordable and contemporary education for the harmonious development of mind, body and soul along with a deep-rooted value system.

The core values of Dalmia Vidya Mandir include integrity, trust and respect, humility and commitment. Dalmia Vidya Mandir School not only works on the professional transformation of the child but also in the inculcation of moral values and keeps them grounded.

Kindly brief us about the featured person and how they contributed to the institute’s success.

Dr Rosetta Williams is an award-winning educationist in India with over 28+ years of experience in managing and leading educational institutions. She is a strategic leader with a team of experienced educators from all around India.

She possesses sound knowledge of curriculum development, teacher training and study of institutional developments from the scratch; she has worked with a number of prestigious educational institutes like Edexcel London, and American School and also served as the Founder Principal of seven Delhi Public Schools as a highly acclaimed academician of Delhi Public School Society.

In course of her professional journey, she was Regional Director of Zee Learn and Director of Presidium Schools before her current role at Dalmia Bharat Cement’s educational vertical PAN India. The schools provide affordable, yet contemporary, quality and extraordinary learning to children in far-flung places in the country all under her leadership.

What are your institute’s core objectives and expected outcomes for your students?

Our objective is to take high-quality English-medium CBSE education to children in tier-II and III towns with priority given to places where Dalmia Bharat Group manufacturing facilities are located. The curriculum is designed to develop children into respectful, socially conscious and productive global citizens and leaders grounded in Indian culture, traditions and ethos. For instance, a distinguishing feature of DVM schools is that all of them teach children Sanskrit from preschool onwards.

Being a woman and keeping the ever-changing ecosystem in mind, are there initiatives launched by the institute to keep the students updated with the global education system?

Yes, I make sure that our schools are up to date as per CBSE norms. Keeping the students and school up to date as per the technology and updates following are the initiatives, we have introduced to our all schools to keep them going with the running time:

• Online/e-learning strategies. Intensive online/effective teaching training for upgrading teachers on New Educational Technologies.
• Digital education: Video/Zoom /MS team classes for all grades.
• Groups for the well-being and mental health of our students – Mindfulness.
• Focused and monitored Worksheets, Homework and Assignments.
• Regular online tests (subjective topic wise) for all grades as per the schedule.
• Learning Management system for digital content
• Introduced Assessment App for quick and handy assessment.
• Bridging Learning Gap by Remedial/Enrichment classes.
• Explanatory topic-wise recorded videos on schools’ YouTube channels. Podcast/television broadcasts on academics.
• Interactive learning with vivid examples to develop pro-activeness and media literacy. Online Special classes on Moral Values and General Knowledge.
• Online training for students and teachers.
• Initiated directions for Virtual Assembly, and encouragement for various online competitions.
• E-newspaper-educational editions for students.
• Help Desk for parents’ feedback, review and actions.
• Virtual Parent-Teacher Meet for review of child’s performance and improvements.

What kinds of recreational activities and events do you conduct at your institute?

How do you ensure maximum engagement in these events? We have introduced weekly activities for the students based upon Nature, Innovation, and Crafts where students participate and work on their different skills. To ensure maximum participation some activities are open for all and for some there are selections. The activities are added to the weekly circular which is being circulated from the head office and this ensures the activity conduction from each school.

How do you inspire students to prepare for their future? And how does the management help the students be the leaders of tomorrow?

We also promote the external participation of our students by providing them various opportunities and grooming them for it. Recently, Dalmia Vidya Mandir school’s students participated in the National level Nukkad Natak competition and one of our schools Dalmia Vidya Mandir, Dalmiapuram 1^st bagged 1 runner-up position. Some of our school alumni are leaders in various fields. We plan alumni’s meet for the students’ interaction to inspire them and call various guests for the talks at our school.

Please mention your institute’s most notable achievements, accolades, and awards.

• Green Your School Programme 2020 Under Innovation Category for sustainability projects by the Indian Green Building Council IGBC.
• Best Green School Award 2019 by National GRIHA Council.

Some of the many awards and allocations won by the school are:

• GAISA National Award-lifetime Achievement-Dr Rosetta Williams.
• Brainfeed Best School Award Won by DVM Rajgangpur
• Students won various awards in Olympiads Organised by S.O.F.
• Students won various positions in Sub Divisional Administration Competitions.
• Various awards in Environmental Quiz Organized by various agencies.
• Various awards in sports events in Interschool Events.
• Various awards in co-curricular events in Interschool Events.
• Scholarship won by our students in Kishor Vigyanik Protsahan Yojana.
• Scholarship won by our school students in Vikram Sarabhai Science Foundation.
• Various competitions won by our students in State Championship.
• Various awards won by our students in Worldwide Talent Hunt.
• Various awards won by our students in Youth Ideathon in Sustainability Hackhathaon 2022.
• DVM Dalmiapuram won first runner up position in the Nukkad Natak Competition organised by GRIHA in 2022.

How do you envision the future of your institute going forward?

With the centenary year around the corner, in 2024 — the first DVM school, Dalmia Vidya Mandir, Chirawa (Jhunjhunu) was promoted in 1924 — the trustees have drawn up an ambitious plan to promote additional primary-secondary in Tamil Nadu, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

We are into the transformation level to design and make all schools to be among the top schools or A++ Schools of India. We are not only working on the educational development of the students but also the overall development and creating a checklist of their strengths and weaknesses to work upon and create future leaders.

I envision the students of this institution to be the future leaders in various sectors of working with their par excellence which we will provide with grooming and opening opportunities for them.