Schools Will Definitely Be More Diverse in Opportunities for Students in the Future: Anamika Anjaria

The ASMA ‘India’s Top 20 Women Leaders in Education 2020’, powered by UniApply virtual event was held on 27th November 2020 under the theme The Trailblazing Women Leaders in Indian Education.

The pioneering virtual event and award ceremony celebrated the success stories, contributions and achievements of women leaders in the field of education.

We speak to Anamika Anjaria, Founder and Director, Rangoli Group of Institutes who was awarded the ‘Education Entrepreneur of the Year 2020’. Anjaria shared her thoughts on the award and spoke about many relevant topics such as coping during the pandemic, the impact of the NEP 2020 and the outlook for preschools and more.

Congratulations on winning the ASMA ‘India’s Top 20 Women Leaders in Education 2020- Education Entrepreneur of the Year 2020′ award. Could you please share your thoughts on winning the award?

Winning the Education Entrepreneur of the Year 2020 award by ASMA is really a privilege for me. I would like to thank ASMA for this award. The journey was really memorable one. Being in the field of education from the last 16-17 years, it was always a dream to contribute something back to society and quality education was the best gift.

I am now the Founder and Director of Rangoli Group of Institutes which is committed to providing quality education through our E4 and 4 Petal Pedagogy in Rangoli Preschools and K12 schools respectively.

I am happy that I even encouraged lots of other women entrepreneurs to carve a niche for themselves and mark their presence in society.

How has Rangoli Group of Institutes leveraged technology to navigate the challenges of the pandemic?

The first week of pandemic pushed us in a valley of uncertainty. We at Rangoli, are a strong believer of the phrase “LEARNING NEVER STOPS”. Hence, we pulled up ourselves quickly and worked on various plans to reach the teachers, parents and our students. Of course, technology was the only solution out and we started experimenting with it and overcame the hurdles soon with online interactive technology. We began the training for our teachers and then extended the same to our parents and students.

Now everything at our schools is going on smoothly with the use of technology. The initial glitches of this pandemic have definitely made us more techno-savvy and opened a horizon for us to explore more.

How do you think NEP 2020 will impact the early and school education sector?

I am glad that what we were already emphasizing has now come in form of NEP 2020. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) made compulsory and to be integrated with school education will definitely impact the early education of children in India. The holistic approach in school and the provision of multiple entries and exit options in higher education will give more flexibility to students to hone their skills and interests.

Though there are few discrepancies like the language of teaching which will make it a bit difficult for other state students but overall I do think that NEP 2020 will do have a great impact on the coming generation.

 How have you remedied the challenge of low admission rates during the pandemic?

The pandemic really created quite a low admission rate as parents had various problems which included fear, finance, device, internet facilities, being less tech-savvy etc.  But we continuously started collecting the data and monitored the students. We made a lot of efforts to convince our parents to let the students keep learning with our new normal way through the technology of online interactions.

Each and every issue of parents was catered with empathy and patience. Online PTMs were conducted to interact with the parents to inform the progress of the students for the online interactive classes. Various online activities were also conducted for students which they enjoyed doing. The social media helped us to showcase the various activities we conducted online and hence helped us to gain the confidence of our parents and helped in the admission rate.

What is the outlook for schools and preschools in the coming year?

Schools and preschools will be having equal importance in upcoming years. Parents who always looked down on preschools will be able to understand the importance of it. Schools will definitely be more diverse in opportunities for students as they will be able to choose what they want. A lot of infrastructural changes will be required though, but for sure it will be for a better and positive change.