The Progressive School Vol 01 Issue 04

Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd), Principal, Birla Public School, Pilani
Manila Carvalho, Principal, DPS, Bangalore East
A Smart school prepares the students
to be life ready and productive world
citizens.
Manila Carvalho: In my opinion, some
of the indicators of a smart school are-
• School staff possessing the feeling
of being smart which is essential for
self-motivation.
• Having a comfortable school structure.
• Qualified and empathetic teaching as
well as non-teaching staff.
• Required amount of campus area.
• Uninterrupted power supply.
• Feasible accessibility to school.
• Viable communication with the
various stakeholders of the school.
• Preparing children for the future
anticipating the technological
advancement.
• Being eco-friendly.
• Building in the sense of globalization
among the staff and the students.
• Introducing vocational courses in the
curriculum.
• Minimising the staff attrition rate in
the school.
• Implementing updated curriculum.
• Enforcing policies in terms of safety
measures of the students.
• Organising teacher empowerment
programmes from time to time.
Smart school will have a cohesive group
which will look into its growth in all its
directions. The thought process of the
Management and the Principal will
percolate down till the class IV staff of the
school. All speak of the same goals and
desires. They will “walk the talk” in their
aspiration to succeed. Learning is made
memorable and enjoyable in these types
of schools. Right from the management
till the attender, all are well groomed
in soft skills. Smart schools welcome
change for the better.
R. Srinivasa Raghavan: Schools
having the smart board, projector alone
cannot be called as smart schools.
Effective utilization of the technology
in administration, communication with
stakeholders, academic transactions
and providing platform for the students
to interact productively with peers
and academicians globally make the
difference between smart schools and
others. Thus, a smart school is one
where:
• Students interact with other students
and develop thriving online learning
communities- able to access and
understand the current research and
developments
• Practicing collaborative learning with
the rest of the world.
• Fast recovery of information & data
with practically no loss of details
stored.
• Learning happens outside the school
hours as well.
Q: Do external resources and the
technological ambience define a
“Smart School”? How does it
contribute if any, to smart learning
practices?
Captain Alokesh Sen (Retd): Only
external resources and the technological
ambience doesn’t define a Smart School
but yes, these play an important part.
Smart Schools are supposed to use the
best global practices and education
administration processes so as to
understand and cater to their students’
needs. The technology helps the facilitators
to organize, accommodate and optimize
the learning process of the students. This
could include latest ideas of the flipped
classroom, blended learning and even
BYODs (Bring Your Own Device).
Manila Carvalho: In the present context
of schooling, external resources and
jul-AUG-SEP 2017
Manila Carvalho is currently
the Principal at DPS Bangalore East.
She has been felicitated with CBSE
Mentor Award 2014. A Master in
Psychology and a Master in Education,
Manila is a vibrant leader. She has a
teaching & administrative experience
of more than 26 years. Her zeal for
Inclusive Education has led to the
accommodation of many differently
challenged students into the main
stream. She is a Research Scholar from
Annamali University.
THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL
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