54 School Principals From Across India Get The Prestigious Change Maker Award For Digital Transformation & Holistic Learning

New-age Technology has swept the Education sphere into the future in a sparkling Award Ceremony, where Change Maker awards were presented to fifty-four School Principals in India by Tech Avant-Garde (Microsoft’s Global Partner), Knowledge L’avenir in association with Microsoft and Rotary Club.

Amidst a spirit of elation, the Principals were acknowledged, celebrated and applauded for their selfless and sincere service to the fruition of the dream of Digitalization of Formal Education. Each Principal articulated their school’s transforming digital journey to make ‘Connected Learning Community’ into a palpable reality. They set a shining example and imparted true inspiration to other Principals of Educational Institutions across the length and breadth of the nation, by guiding and handholding teachers and students alike to administer critical knowledge and wisdom, paving the way ahead into a brightly lit exciting future. The organizers were convinced that with Principals plunging into the fray, others will readily follow and put India on the map, at par with global education, especially now more than ever with the Pandemic looming large over our heads.

Certain select Principals were from schools that were honored with Carte Blanche Digital School graduation at a special function held in November 2020. These schools have subscribed towards the Digital Transformation and Holistic Learning Program (DTHL); where the school teachers have been trained in Digital Teaching; where the school is conducting online classes daily for all grades; where teachers are MIE (Microsoft Innovator Educator) certified and where teachers have trained the participants in the Knowledge L’avenir Conclave Webinars. The DTHL Coordinators are awarded with Digital Catalyst Certification; Knowledge L’avenir Conclave presenters are awarded with Adroit Mentor Certification; Teachers with digital skills are  presented with Empowered Educator Certification; Students are  presented with Connected Learner Certification and Parents are presented with Participative Parent Certification. Schools are also eligible to become Microsoft Showcase Schools. And in addition, teachers who have given presentations in Knowledge L’avenir Conclaves are trained to become MIE Trainers.

111 teachers were certified as MIE (Microsoft Innovator Educator) Trainers at the Knowledge L’avenir Platform conducted by Tech Avant-Garde (TAG), Global Training Partner of Microsoft, in association with Microsoft and supported by Rotary and Knowledge Key Foundation.

Ali Sait, CEO, Tech Avant-Garde, says, “India is the first nation in the world where educational institutions have fulfilled the requirement of Knowledge Age by becoming part a ‘Connected Learning Community’. In history any Nation or Society, which adopts modern Educational practices, becomes the most progressive society of the world. India has had the head start and we hope it maintains the lead.”

Christine Thoresen, Director Worldwide Education Strategy, Microsoft Corporation, said, “I heard about 111 MIE Trainer are getting graduated I am so excited, it’s so important and accomplishment is tremendous.”

Olga Svyrydenko, Business Strategy Lead Manager, Global Training Partner Program at Microsoft, added, “Global Training Partner is going to give teachers an opportunity to share their experiences on various forums. MIE certified teachers are going have a responsibility to train their colleagues.”  

The Change Maker Awardees are as follows: Maharashtra/ Goa: Balvinder Kaur Kooner, Arya Gurukul, Ambernath, Kalyan; Radhamani Iyer, Arya Gurukul, Nandivali, Kalyan; Sapna Uppal, Little Aryan's, Pre K, Kalyan; Shobhana Jha, St. Mary's High School, Kalyan; Farha Asif Daruwala, Crescent High School & Junior College, Pune; Asha Srinivas Reddy, Priyadarshani School, Moshi, Pune; Arpita Dixit, Priyadarshani School & Jr. College, SSC Board, Pune;  Dr. Gaitri Suhas Jadav, Priyadarshini School & Jr. College, CBSE, Indrayaninagar, Pune; Nalini Samuel, The Orbis School, Keshav Nagar, Pune; Gunjan Srivastava, The Orbis School, Mundhwa, Pune; and Sindu Hemanth, Sunshine Worldwide School, Goa.

Karnataka: Wng. Cdr. Ranjit Kumar Mandal and Chabbi Mandal, BGS World School, Chikkaballapura, Bangalore; Judith Singh, Cambridge Public School, HSR Extension, Bangalore; Geetha Mohan, Carmel School, Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore; Sribala Srinivasan, Carmel School, Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore; Nimmy George,   Clarence Public School, Bangalore; Sobha Venkateswar, Embassy Public School, Bangalore; Abida, Florence Public School, Bangalore; Bridgette Mc Gavin, Florence Public School, Bangalore; Aruna Iyer, Greenfield Public School, Bangalore; KV Vincent,      Huddard High School; Kavitha B V, Jubilee International Public School,  Bangalore; Sujatha Nagaraj N, Lawrence High School, HSR, Bangalore; Umadevi N, Lawrence High School, Koramangala, Bangalore; Reetu Thapa, NPS Utrahalli, Bangalore; Thomas P J, Royal Public School, Electronic City, Bangalore; Deepthy Madhu, Samsidh MLZS, Electronic City, Bangalore; Rekha Sinha, Samsidh MLZS, Horamavu, Bangalore; Sangeetha Shenoy, Samsidh MLZS, HSR Layout, Bangalore;  Mamta Chandra, Samsidh MLZS, Vidyaranyapura, Bangalore; Joice Lobo, Samsidh Mother Teresa International School, Kanakpura, Bangalore; Meenu Bhattacharya, TCIS, Sarjapur, Bangalore; Roopa Arun, TCIS, Sarjapur, Bangalore; Priya Anand, TCIS, Whitefield, Bangalore; Usha Iyer, The Green School, Bangalore; Usha Ravi, The Regency Public School, Bangalore; Y Padma Sagar, Vagdevi Vilas School, Marathahalli, Bangalore; and Devika Nagaraju, VLS International School, Bangalore.  

Other South: Lakshmi Vindala     International School Shaikpet, Hyderabad; Fahmidha, Oxford Grammar High School, Hyderabad; Fatima Kim Hussain, Oxford Grammar High School, Hyderabad; Ramanjula G, Oxford Grammar High School, Hyderabad; Dr. A Chhalamayi Reddy, Sri Aurobindo International School, Hyderabad; Kajol Chatterjee, Samsidh International School, Visakhapatnam; C Bhuvaneswari, Litera Valley Zee School, Hosur, Tamil Nadu; M D Ganga Devi, Samsidh MLZS, Vellore, Tamil Nadu; and Santosh Kanavalli, Subbiah Central School, (CBSE) Tirupur, Tamil Nadu.

North: Dr. Seema Dutt D.A.V Public School, Ambala, Cantt; Vijayshree Pandey, Dr. Virendra Swarup Education Centre, Shyam Nagar, Kanpur; Neelam Ohri, Mind Tree School, Ambala; Sudha Mathur, Mind Tree School, Ambala; Brinda Sam, St. Thomas' School, Gopiganj, Uttar Pradesh; and Saman Sherwani, The Blossoms School, Aligarh.

The Change Maker Event included five critically informative Sessions. A large audience across India got a wonderful opportunity to hear a potpourri of words spilling with knowledge, experience and wisdom, describing their digital journey along with the victory over the uncertainties due to the pandemic.  They also described their determination to keep Formal Education alive and furthermore, fulfilling the aspiration of every child by imparting better education on a digital platform and protecting the Human Capital of the country. Their narrative was convincing, where they urged other schools to accept digitalization as the new normal of the times. The list of luminaries who spoke runs as follows:

Precognition Session:  Sr. Sadhaya  SND, Manager, Notre Dame School Vasai, Maharashtra, Mrs. Princess Franklyn, Dean of Studies, National School of Journalism, Bangalore, Mr. Vineet Kshirsagar, Director Sales, Hitachi Vartara, India and Ms. Roshini Kumar, President, Lycee Corp.

Solutionist Session: Mr.  K V Vincent, Principal, Huddard High School, Kanpur, Mrs. Priya Anand, Head of School, TCIS, Whitefield, Bangalore and Mrs. Radhamani Iyer, Principal, Arya Gurukul,  Nandivali, Kalyan.

First Transformist Session: Mr. Chandrashekhar R, Chairman, Litera Valley Zee School, Mr. Bharat Malik, Chairperson, Education Today Foundation, Mrs. Neelam Malik, Academic Director, Education Today Foundation, M.K. Sherwani, Chairman, The Blossoms School and Waseefullah Khan Sherwani, Chief Administrator, The Blossoms School.

Second Transformist Session: Mr. K.Harish, Chairman, Vagdevi Vilas Group of  Institutions and Wg. Cdr. Ranjit Kumar Mandal, Principal, BGS School, Chickkaballapura .

Visionary Session: Major Harish Kumar, Secretary, NCERT, Mr. Rahul Tandon, Design Head Product Development and Compliances, Bharat Bill Pay and Rtn. Ramesh Kumar RDDRFC, Rotary.

The Change Makers were profusely thanked for being the guiding light and an important catalyst to one and all in the darkest time in our current history. Their spectacular endeavors are taking Digital Education right at the doorstep of schools from the remote Indian villages to the lofty classrooms in global arenas, revolutionizing the system.

About Tech Avant-Garde (TAG): TAG is a technology services organization which focuses on “Product Fostering” which means Development, Nurturing and Promoting of the software products. To enhance customer support and user experience, TAG has innovated an App based “Help Desk called TAG” which is accessible to the user from anywhere, any place and on any device. Being a socially conscious organization, it has taken the cause of “women empowerment” in the digital age, it trains and employs women at its residential complexes called “Navy Campuses”. In these campuses, it provides boarding, lodging and continuum training, on software development and Help Desk management. Tech Avant-Garde features on the Microsoft website as its global education training partner. Tech Avant-Garde has been recognised as ET Industry Leaders 2020 Award Winner for Software Innovation in Ed-Tech.