An institute started in year 1927 in Mumbai and now having branches all over the country has become talk of the town when Mr. Raghav Podar – Chairman – Podar Education received the award of Most Impactful School Leader Award 2020 by Indian Principals Network foundation. On this occasion we had a word with Mr. Raghav Podar about what does it takes to be a revolutionary educator and what inspires him to go on. “He said, that all the award which I have received are all because of the team working behind the curtains, I am just receiving the awards on behalf of them, it’s my team of passionate educators who keep the desire to innovate burning in me which I had since I joined education space. All credit goes to them. We as a team have always been very adaptable so that we can inculcate and build 21st century skills in our students, We knew that skills are as important as academics of a student’s hence we have always put our efforts in 360 degree development of our student, Today with NEP coming into pictures shows that Indian is moving towards a skill & growth based learning rather than continuing rote learning and we have always been very vocal about it. “
Raghav Podar who is shouldering a 92 years Old legacy of Podar Education and continuing with the values of Mahtma Gandhi who was first president of the Podar Trust, also added that “any worthy award serves not only as recognition, but more importantly a responsibility to keep the burning hunger for excellence alive, no matter how turbulent the headwinds might seem.â€
He says, “That in a year of uncertainty, it was all too easy to remonstrate about the difficulties and label 2020 as a write off. Such myopic outlooks serve no purpose for growth, as difficulty is an excuse history never accepts. Hence since the lock down took place we followed the formula of Learn, Unlearn & Relearn, We started with good quality lecture delivery on video conferencing platforms and in a month’s time we started delivering flawless and high quality lectures.Â
Adversity has the ability of eliciting talents that lay dormant inherently during prosperous times.Â
There is no better time than a crisis that forces us to grow and wakes us up from the slumber of rudimentary practices. Our team has not only taken care of our student’s but also their parents, we have conducted successful Yoga, Zumba, Bollywood Dance class online for the family of our students to keep them fit and healthy & Fit, We as educator believes that learning should never stop at any cost and a learning also comes from interacting & collaborating with different people, this thought made us organize Inter Podar GK Competition & a National Inter School Debate competition where 40 schools from length and breadth of India has participated all this are our effort to ignite the spark in our students and let them know that a person only stops when he/she wants to stop.
I believe we should defenestrate the narrative that 2020 is a write off, and recognise it’s the year of unearthing new potential inside us. “
Mr. Raghav Podar who has also been awarded as Glory of India Award by Debuty PM of Thailand in year 2016 is now looking forward to make 2021 a year of even greater growth for his students, Parents & his team.
