Dr. Trishta Ramamurthy, Founder Ekya Schools
Dr. Trishta spearheads K10 and K12 initiatives under the CMR Group. She brings cutting-edge educational advancements to Ekya Schools from her experiences of exposure to the principles of Project Zero Classroom from Harvard University.
Podcast
Overview
In India, we believe that teachers are superior to God. Teachers help children grow and thus help in building the nation. But due to some of the obsolete methods and inefficiencies in the Education System, the mental level of the students are falling collectively.
To fight this situation, our guest for today Dr. Trishta Ramamurthy founded The Ekya Schools in 2010.
The Ekya Schools is a chain of dynamic schools designed with the aim of bringing pedagogically sound researched-based learning experiences to India. Dr. Trishta spearheads K10 and K12 initiatives under the CMR Group.
She brings cutting-edge educational advancements to Ekya Schools from her experiences of exposure to the principles of Project Zero Classroom from Harvard University, inquiry-based learning from the Regio Avila approach from Italy, and design thinking from the Standard Design School.
Dr. Trista aims to transform education by preparing youth with skills for the future of work by enabling them to drive meaningful change at the global level. Dr. Trishta believes in the power of community and education.
To encourage individuals to build skills and spaces that flourish, she has a clear vision, ‘Drive and propensity for authentic leadership which complements her ambition to develop a progressive education environment for young people. She has accomplished a lot and is determined to drive change in the ecosystem of education.
About Ekya Schools
Ekya Schools is a chain of schools. They have their own curriculum. They are a board-agnostic and progressive school system. They design learning for kids from the age of two and a half to eighteen years old in the K12 space.
The Ekya Schools run state boards, CBSE, ICSC, POC, etc. but their curriculum is based on international benchmarks.
Dr. Trishta’s motivation to start Ekya Schools
Dr. Trishta tells us that she has seen her mother build the CMR Group. She tells us that when she was five, her mother started a school with six kids in a guava orchard. She has seen the CMR Group grow to over 20 thousand kids. She wanted to be like her mother and do something in the education field.
Talking about the list of improvement needs in the education system in India, Dr. Trishta says that it is endless. However, she believes that we need to revisit the areas of what to teach when to teach, and how to teach the most.
Children should be taught the right things at the right age. We need to be very particular about it.
How are Ekya Schools driving the change in the teaching methods?
Dr. Trishta tells us that they have built objectives of different learnings and teach the children according to those objectives at the right age. So they have built this vertical integration of learning for kids so that they can learn the right things at the right age.
Talking about the teachers, Dr. Trishta tells us that they hire teachers with good intentions and passion to teach. Then they train the teachers for skill and capability. They keep supporting them in their professional development and becoming educators.
Role of Sanskrit language
Dr. Trishta tells us that NEP does focus on the Sanskrit language and lays a fair amount of emphasis on it. Even in Ekya Schools, the Sanskrit language is offered as a third language and sometimes a second language.
Children have a perception that the Sanskrit language is our ancient language and it is very scoring, but they are not able to use it as much as other languages. However, she believes that in the coming years, children should go back to the philosophy of ancient wisdom.
They should know that if we have the technology, on one hand, we also have ancient texts and their learnings on the other hand which Sanskrit is a base of.
Dr. Trista’s advice to the people of rural areas who want to work for the mainstream education
Dr. Trishta says that if anyone from the rural areas wishes to help solve problems in the education system, she is willing to accept them with open arms. She says that it is hard work, but very necessary.
Profile
Dr. Trishta Ramamurthy’s Linkedin- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tristha/?originalSubdomain=in
