Dr. Vandana Tandon
Principal
She engages in an exclusive interaction with Women Entrepreneur Magazine.
Take us through your professional back-ground and experiences. What motivated you to foray into an educational segment?
My father-in-law, O.P. Tandon, and my mother-in-law, Kamal Tandon, is the inspiration behind my venture into the education segment. Their work ethic and urge to serve society by fulfilling educational needs slowly inclined me towards the field of education. Their unfailing support and encouraging words finally made me decide on my career path and I joined Kamal Model School as TGT.
Their guiding philosophy of making connections with students, teachers, and parents helped me realize that I can make an instrumental contribution in shaping our education policy and help our students to learn and grow to reach their maximum potential. I want to help students and teachers follow best practices that positively impact their learning outcomes.
Define Kamal Model Sr. Sec. School as an institution and its position in the market and what unique propositions it offers to its student?
Kamal Model Sr. Sec. School has championed the cause of nourishing our rich culture, heritage, and
tradition while maintaining a progressive attitude towards future needs. Our School ensures that the process of education is equally as important as grades and we take initiatives to develop a sense of respect among students for each other, for the environment, and for the world at large.
We aim at the holistic development of the child and provide ample opportunities to students to discover the best in themselves and flourish to their maximum potential.
What are the major challenges you faced in your journey and what is your success mantra?
As an individual, maintaining worklife balance is a challenge but as a principal, I had to go through various major challenges such as the socioeconomic condition of many students, dealing with students who lack guidance at home because of their illiterate family members, lack of budget for scalability of innovations, and sometimes providing quality education also become a challenge becausecommunities and cultures are resistant to change which makes it difficult to implement something new.
Every challenge gives you an opportunity to grow and improve, therefore my success mantra is to accept them as and you encounter them.
How do you maintain the quality of deliverables and ensure a holistic learning experience for your students? What are the distinctive features of your School?
We believe in 'More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given'. The methods incorporated are constructive approaches where students play an active role and Teachers being facilitators keep a check on every student and in turn, it becomes feasible for them to reciprocate the same connection. A few of our creative engaging methods are Brain Storming, Concept Mapping, Role Playing Exercises, Flipped Classrooms,
Brainstorm solutions to problems, adopt a growth mindset, and become a productive citizen Define
We aim at the holistic development of the child and provide ample opportunities to students to discover the best in themselves and flourish to their maximum potential.
What are the major challenges you faced in your journey and what is your success mantra?
As an individual, maintaining worklife balance is a challenge but as a principal, I had to go through various major challenges such as the socioeconomic condition of many students, dealing with students who lack guidance at home because of their illiterate family members, lack of budget for scalability of innovations, and sometimes providing quality education also become a challenge becausecommunities and cultures are resistant to change which makes it difficult to implement something new.
Every challenge gives you an opportunity to grow and improve, therefore my success mantra is to accept them as and you encounter them.
How do you maintain the quality of deliverables and ensure a holistic learning experience for your students? What are the distinctive features of your School?
We believe in 'More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given'. The methods incorporated are constructive approaches where students play an active role and Teachers being facilitators keep a check on every student and in turn, it becomes feasible for them to reciprocate the same connection. A few of our creative engaging methods are Brain Storming, Concept Mapping, Role Playing Exercises, Flipped Classrooms,
Kinaesthetic Learning, Cooperative Learning, Competency Based Learning, Experiential Learning, Blended Learning and so on.
The most remarkable feature of our school is that emphasis is laid on student centred education and we are devoted to helping students develop intellectual, artistic, and personal interests contributing to the holistic growth of each individual. Apart from imparting schooling experience, the students are encouraged to participate in Interschool Competitions, Regional Level, Zonal Level, and National Level Competitions as well as to take part in activities such as yoga and meditation,gymnastics, participation in theatre, martial arts, and many more, which promotes their holistic development and enables them to develop a balanced personality.
What are the changes you anticipate in the education sector and what opportunities do you foresee? Also, what advice would you give to the budding entrepreneurs in the education domain?
The education sector is going to witness a wide spectrum of changes where the curriculum and pedagogy followed through out the year will be based on academic and non-academic activities from which students would gain knowledge through their experience and teachers would act only as a facilitator or a mentor to a student. I believe that National Education Policy 2020 will provide ample opportunities to engage students at three levels Behavioural engagement, Emotional engagement, and Cognitive engagement.
The budding entrepreneurs should dream big, take risks, set a vision for inspiring innovations, and work for excellence in the field of education.
Dr. Vandana Tandon, Principal, KAMAL MODEL SR. SEC. SCHOOL
A social activist and a visionary leader, Dr. Vandana is an active participant in Kamal, Vandana, Gurugram, and Trinity Group of Educational Institutes.
The most remarkable feature of our school is that emphasis is laid on student centred education and we are devoted to helping students develop intellectual, artistic, and personal interests contributing to the holistic growth of each individual. Apart from imparting schooling experience, the students are encouraged to participate in Interschool Competitions, Regional Level, Zonal Level, and National Level Competitions as well as to take part in activities such as yoga and meditation,gymnastics, participation in theatre, martial arts, and many more, which promotes their holistic development and enables them to develop a balanced personality.
What are the changes you anticipate in the education sector and what opportunities do you foresee? Also, what advice would you give to the budding entrepreneurs in the education domain?
The education sector is going to witness a wide spectrum of changes where the curriculum and pedagogy followed through out the year will be based on academic and non-academic activities from which students would gain knowledge through their experience and teachers would act only as a facilitator or a mentor to a student. I believe that National Education Policy 2020 will provide ample opportunities to engage students at three levels Behavioural engagement, Emotional engagement, and Cognitive engagement.
The budding entrepreneurs should dream big, take risks, set a vision for inspiring innovations, and work for excellence in the field of education.
Dr. Vandana Tandon, Principal, KAMAL MODEL SR. SEC. SCHOOL
A social activist and a visionary leader, Dr. Vandana is an active participant in Kamal, Vandana, Gurugram, and Trinity Group of Educational Institutes.