My Expressions

Ed Leader – Heemal Handoo Bhat, Hansraj Model School, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi

Education is an integral part of a child’s upbringing. We, at Curious Times, have made it our aim to ensure that we also play an active role in imparting the right knowledge to all the Curious children. As such, we also try to ensure that we are always in touch with the leaders in education today and learning from them. After all, it is important to learn from the best.

So, today, we present to you a one-on-one conversation with Heemal Handoo Bhat. She is the Principal of Hansraj Model School, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi. The school is an initiative of The DAV Society, a pioneer and one of the largest organizations in education, that runs and manages over 780 world-class educational institutions In India and abroad.

When did you decide to step into the world of education? What motivated you to become an Educator? The Dalai Lama once said, “Education is much more than a matter of imparting the knowledge and skills by which narrow goals are achieved. It is also about opening the child’s eyes to the needs and rights of others”.

The flexibility and adaptability of the youth have constantly fascinated me to move towards teaching as I knew that this was the arena where I would blossom each day and never ever feel the fading phenomenon. I take immense pride in sharing with all that I am a teacher by choice.

“When the untapped potential of a student meets the liberating art of a teacher, a miracle unfolds”. The thought that I possess the power to awaken the joy of learning, inspire hopes, ignite the imagination, and instil values and skills fills my heart with zeal and ardour for my profession. Teaching has offered me the platform to contribute constructively and make an everlasting impression on young minds. It gave me an opportunity to mould and shape innocent hearts with my artistic hands, to transform them into responsible and considerate beings equipped to face the challenges of the outside world.

Share some of the challenges you have faced in your career journey. How did you convert those challenges into the pillars of success? “Leadership is the capacity to transform vision into reality”.
Bringing a dynamic change in the perception of people around you is the biggest challenge every educational leader faces in today’s world. I strive to bring a difference in my domain of influence and work towards nurturing a progressive thought in every individual. This can pull them out of their comfortable cocoons with a vision to sharpen their skills and make them acquainted with their unexplored talents.
Leading one of the biggest schools of West Delhi with a student strength of 5000+ puts across varied challenges day in and day out. Shaping the personality of students is a herculean task in today’s world. I model what I preach and aspire to bring a shift from teaching to learning. I stand tall and strong with my vision and values and keep my efforts focused towards nurturing ignited minds who desire to explore, innovate and become torchbearers of tomorrow.
As an educational leader, I aspire to remain a life-long learner with a desire to grow together. My peers and my teammates are my biggest testimonial. Their faith in me motivates me to carve new paths with sincere and diligent efforts.

Each day has appeared to me as a metamorphosis in life where you learn from your experiences and cast the old skin to bring out the new one thereby reshaping and remoulding yourself to become better day by day. Even when I was young, my teachers and professors have also motivated me a lot and they considered the teaching profession well-suited for me whenever I carved a niche for myself during presentations, theatre activities, and in public speaking forums. Learning through different roles, today, I am here as a Principal of one of the leading schools of West Delhi spread across 7.2 acres of land.

What are the changes have you observed over the years in the field of education? Are you happy with these changes? The education sector is no longer the arena for the transmission of knowledge. It has transformed into an arena of exploring self, touching new avenues, and reaching greater heights, The education sector is accepting challenges that often draw pathways to opportunities. I visualize it as a good time where one could envision students as curious lifelong learners.

Changing times call for a change in the requirements that pull us out of our comfort zone. In the past year, educators had to put their brains together to design strategies to reallocate our resources towards isolated learning techniques where physical participation had to be replaced by virtual participation in such a manner that everyone involved works in tandem. The transposition of digitalization from socialization and an inter-personal connection developed in the entire education fraternity, the ability to Adopt and Adapt. They could breed Optimism -the ability to mould and accept the unexpected.
The amalgamation of learning through hands-on experiences always nurtures a sense of self-reliance, achievement, and confidence amongst the young lot. Bringing it on a virtual platform has brought an immense transformation in the pedagogical structure and made the educators realize their potential to explore the unexplored. Innovative methods and the inter-disciplinary genre have taken the front seat during the celebration of events and special days. Practical experiences and self-driven research were encouraged and promoted for a wider vision.
All this can go a long way in bringing a purpose to learning where the multiple intelligences of the students can be challenged and the cumulative benefits of holistic learning can be achieved. The paradigm shift in pedagogy has developed a sense of commitment in students and projected them as promising social beings of the future.

What changes would you like to see in the field of Education? What role can the various stakeholders like the government, teachers, students and parents play in this? “Education is the passport to the future – for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”.
The dream of creating an educated “New India” can be realized through the makeover of present-day education to an “education in totality”- a complete package. Education should aim to make students “job creators” not just “job-seekers”. The quality of education outweighs its quantity. Less importance on marks and more emphasis on the development of skills and personality would provide them with the gateway to learning. Reviewing textbook content, infusing application-based learning/project work, integrating latest advancements, inculcating skills, creativity and sensitivity (towards society and nature) reflecting upon evaluation techniques etc. would pave way for a transformation in the teaching-learning process. Adding global dimension and futuristic thinking would also empower students to emerge as leaders, trendsetters and change-makers of tomorrow.
“The principal goal of education is to create individuals who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what the other generations have done”. The coming years will be the dawn of a new era – the National Education Policy will take the center stage in all educational pursuits. We should all be more than willing to embrace and propagate the key features of the policy which gives a new dimension to educational excellence as it allows a child to be his or her own self.

“The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught as that every child should be given the wish to learn”. The quality which makes a person stand apart as a teacher is ‘being compassionate to the child and his/her circumstances’. It is essential to have the willingness and acceptance to understand that every child is special and possesses some qualities that need to be nurtured. A teacher must guide and motivate a child to the best of her/his abilities and should never judge a child on the basis of academic performance. A teacher can only leave a mark until the taught feels connected to the teachings of the teacher. A teacher does not just teach but also reaches. Reach out to the whole community and build a nation of happy citizens. It is a teacher alone who can encourage a child to spread his/her wings of imagination, to dare to imagine and dream, to collaborate with others, to find one’s own potential, and ignite the flame of knowledge and wisdom. Having said this, a teacher has to be a life-long learner too.

For the students, I visualize a paradigm shift from education only for better results and grades to education for self-belief, desire for innovation, the courage to experiment, urge to accept challenges, and yearning to push boundaries of knowledge and self-growth.

Our parents are the largest stakeholders in the teaching-learning community. It goes without saying that for a healthy parent-teacher community to survive and thrive, the pattern of understanding each other is very important. So I believe in trust-building exercises with our parents wherein they know that they are a very important pillar of our organization and are ready to dwell upon the collaborative perspective that can work to achieve the best outcomes for the students.

Share your message with the aspiring teachers and leaders of tomorrow. “Aspire not to be merely a teacher but an awakener”. I am still a young teacher as I believe a teacher remains young all through her life. But yes, of course, the day you cease to learn, you no longer can don the cap of a teacher. So I would just say that if you have chosen this profession, be passionate and willing to learn.
There will be hope for every young aspirant as long as you wish to try to be a lifelong learner. You can do justice to this profession if you are inclined towards risk-taking, tinkering, innovating your pedagogy, exploring yourself, and empathizing with your students. The profession teaches you to paint the canvas of your character with the fine things of life-humaneness above all.
Syncing our strides to have an acumen for a 360-degree approach to learning, let’s aspire to choose this profession as our first choice. If the economy has to prosper and grow, we need to think the more the better and the better.
Become a willing teacher and mould the soft souls of your young co-learners to help them blossom and shine brighter. Cherish the opportunities you are getting to bring an impressionable change in someone’s life, to bring a smile on a poignant face, to infuse serenity and curiosity at the same time in someone.

Share your message for your and Curious Times students. I want to see self-empowerment in the students, society and nation at large. This would wipe out exploitation and vulnerability from the face of India and give birth to self-belief, confidence and prosperity.

Heemal Handoo Bhat, Principal

Hansraj Model School, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi

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