An electronics and communication engineer from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Mr. Seshasai took his MBA from IIM Bangalore. He believes that working in the education sector allows him to play a transformative role in professionalizing the education sector and bringing the best practices from the corporate sector to the schools and pre-schools in the KKEL chain. Striving to make KKEL’s vision, to expand the reach of KKEL’s innovative curriculum across India and international geographies, a reality, he is also working intensively to deliver KKEL’s technology-driven education, which can personalize and make learning more relevant to each child’s individual preferences and style
Kangaroo Kids Education Ltd was started with the belief that all children should have the opportunity to experience the joy of learning and access to world-class education. Over the years we have grown and constantly innovated, delivering exceptional learning experiences.
Children are our ‘raison d’être’ i.e. they are our reason to be and that is why most policies and principles governing KKEL are dictated by what is in the best interest of the child.
Some of the best practices at KKEL are:
- Building an ever-evolving, innovative, neuroscience-based curriculum in-house: Each child is unique and has a unique learning style, having just one method of teaching is unfair to the ones who cannot cope with it. At KKEL, our team of 85+ instructional designers has spent 250,000 man hours developing a world-class curriculum that integrates global best practices. Integrated learning is a buzzword today, however, integrated learning was a part of the learning experience at our preschool & school networks 2 decades ago. We have always believed that subjects cannot be taught in silos and for learning to happen, there needs to be cross-subject integration and a real-world connection. Our student-centered system is aimed at building competencies and habits of the mind. The focus is on social skills and higher-order skills, preparing our children for success in the 21st century.
- Focusing on all-round education: 26 years ago when everything was about academics, we introduced the concept of an all-round education. Here, sports and performing arts (SPA) became a dedicated program and was built into the child’s schooling calendar. Across our network, children are allowed to pick 3 performing arts & sports at the primary level and 2 performing arts & sports in middle school. SPA is also graded and the children are given a platform to showcase what they learn, at the end of the year.
- Open door policy: Our goal has been to encourage discussions on important issues, get or provide feedback, and solve problems as quickly and effectively as possible. In our endeavor to make our children more confident to ask questions and feel heard, we have done everything in our power to get our schools to be OPEN. We encourage our children and parents to come up to us with any concerns/ challenges they face, at any point in time. I am amazed at the confidence with which our children enter the Principal’s room at Billabong High in Malad and discuss little things with our Principal. It may be a restaurant they recently went to or a great book they read or a story about their pet at home. We do not want our children to have a fear factor around authority and this is reflected in our school culture.
- Gender-neutral policies: Gender stereotyping has been ingrained in our society. In our schools too, we started off like the rest. However, one day, one of our children walked up to us and questioned this. “If girls are allowed to keep their hair long, why can’t I? I will keep them well-groomed.” This got us thinking and we gradually worked around changing our policies and making them gender-neutral. Our objective is to build a safe and positive environment for our children.
- Beyond physical safety: Children thrive when they are given a safe environment and we don’t just mean physical safety, we also go the extra mile to make sure they are mentally and emotionally safe too. We have a counselor in school at all times, we are BVQI “Safe School” Certified and we have now started an Initiative with Tata Institute Of Social Sciences called ‘ICALL’ where children have access to a counselor over telephone/ email/ chat.
- The Genius Hour: A best practice adopted from the MNCs and extended to our classrooms is ‘The Genius Hour’ -we believe that each child should have the opportunity to pursue the things they are truly passionate about. This initiative comprises one dedicated hour every week on a project the child wants to pursue. Children are free to select anything they want to focus on or work towards. This may be an art, a sport, a science project or a business idea. We give them this freedom at a young age so that they can dedicate their time and energy to their passion even while learning at school. They do this consistently over a year, and grade after grade. This initiative starts at Grade 1. Always guided and assisted by an expert or teacher, this unstructured hour helps children to understand their passion better and whether they would like to pursue it further. The end goal is to help every child find their north star.
- Inclusion: We believe all children deserve to get an equal opportunity irrespective of their learning capabilities; hence we have an inclusion policy. We do not have separate classrooms for children with special needs and integrate them into our regular classrooms. This helps the children with special needs to settle into a normal environment harmoniously; while it helps other children become empathetic and sensitive towards their peers.
- Screening & selection process for business partners: Our ethos and vision are sacred to us. We believe in the power of a network that is genuinely invested to build young lives. Our partner network reflects an exclusive group of individuals who are highly committed to bringing about a change in the lives of young children – both, as franchise partners of Kangaroo Kids International Preschool and as partners of Billabong High International School. We have a clear screening & selection process while choosing our franchise partners.
- Child centric: This brand was started by an educationist, where the entire value system revolves around the development and wellbeing of the child. While this was started 26 years ago, it reflects in our organizational culture even today.
While these maybe a few of the best practices adopted at the organizational level and our network of schools and preschools, at the ground level, our centers do a lot more to make sure our children get the best of everything. Today we have touched more than 2, 00,000+ children’s lives and have created 100 plus entrepreneurs as partners of our vision. As an educational institution, we are constantly working on initiatives that equip our children with the right ‘competencies’ rather than mere skills for the future. We are at the beginning of the next revolution in learning – Future Ready Schooling.